Cimarron girls advance to county title game

Zack Hall

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2000 | 11:07 a.m.

After having its semifinal match postponed due to rain, the Cimarron-Memorial girls soccer team picked up right where it left off.

The Spartans used three first-half goals to get past Green Valley 3-1 Tuesday at Durango High, advancing to the Clark County girls soccer championship game.

"We played tough," said Spartans coach Tom Hrding. "We had some struggles but we pulled it out."

Cimarron (19-5-0) will play the winner of the Gorman-Silverado game, which will be played today at 2:30, for the county championship Saturday. There is no state championship in girls soccer.

If the top-seeded Gaels win, it will set up a rematch of last years' southern zone championship.

"We came out here without any practice," Hrding said. "We took two days off without any practice because we had a tough game against Gorman. We came out kind of rusty.

"We are going to work on our possession skills, our runs and our set plays (before the championship)."

The Spartans wasted no time jumping on Green Valley. In the fourth minute Juiselle Yslas capitalized on a breakaway chance, pushing the ball past diving Gator keeper Brittney Lowe for the 1-0 lead.

Fifteen minutes later Venetia Bailey received an overhead pass and beat Lowe after she had come out of net for a 2-0 lead.

Alicia Gill added one more just before the half to build an insurmountable 3-0 lead.