The Odessa High girls soccer team knew it needed to quickly fix a few things after its shutout loss against San Angelo Central Friday.
The Lady Bronchos’ main focus coming into Tuesday’s game against Lubbock Estacado was to add some variety in how they tried to attack.
It’s safe to say for at least one game, Odessa High completely figured it out as the Lady Bronchos downed the Lady Mats 7-0 with four different goal scorers.
Senior forward Alondra Venegas, sophomore midfielder Jamie Natividad and sophomore forward Maya Sanchez each scored twice. Junior forward Alyssa Anchondo scored Odessa High’s last goal of the game with five minutes to go.
The efforts of Lubbock Estacado goalkeeper Arcie Marquez kept the game from getting even more lopsided, as she made over a dozen saves.
“It gave us the opportunity to work on a lot of things that we’ve been needing to work on,” Odessa High head coach Cecilia Kellar said. “I think the girls came out with a good intensity throughout the game. They didn’t allow themselves to play at a slower pace so I was happy with that.”
From the outset of the game, it was clear that Odessa High (6-4-0) had a clear advantage over Lubbock Estacado, which is a school from two UIL classifications lower than the Lady Bronchos.
Odessa High goalkeepers Catalina Ulate and Paula Pequeno split time in net for the clean sheet with one save combined.
The Lady Bronchos opened the scoring three minutes into the game on a Natividad strike from outside the penalty box.
Natividad said after the game that Kellar is always telling her to shoot more, so she made her best attempt from about 20 yards away from goal. The shot went over Marquez’s head and into the net.
“It actually means a lot for us because it kind of shows that we are a better team than we thought we were,” Natividad said about the win. “I feel like we can do even better than what we did tonight.”
Venegas scored her goals nearly 30 seconds apart in the first half to send the Lady Bronchos into the halftime break up 3-0.
“It’s still something we’re working on, but it’s always good to find the back of the net,” Kellar said.
In the second half, Odessa High doubled its lead in an 11-minute stretch where it attacked the Lady Mats’ defense in multiple ways.
Despite holding a big lead for a majority of the game, Kellar added that her teams’ urgency throughout was good. She also said that it was a huge positive that four Lady Bronchos scored in the game.
“We have the players, we have personnel to do that,” Kellar said. “If they really allow themselves to be as strong as they can be, we have goal scorers throughout the field. That’s really something we’re trying to make a strength of ours.”
