Greenwood girls soccer coach Noe Cerezo knew his team would be ready for its big District 2-4A match against Lubbock-Cooper Liberty on Tuesday night.
The players assured their head coach in the locker room before the match that they would indeed be up for the challenge against the first-place team after playing well against Liberty in the first meeting.
The Rangerettes not only got a goal in each half, but junior goalkeeper Farrah Fortner saved a few shots from the Patriots to preserve a 2-0 victory at J.M. King Memorial Stadium.
“We needed that so bad,” Fortner said. “We all fought so hard and it’s so amazing.”
This was a big win for Greenwood (11-2-5, 11-0-2 in district) as it moves into first place and owns the goal differential against Liberty (13-3-1, 11-1-1) with five matches remaining in the regular season. The teams tied 1-1 in the first meeting on Jan. 22 before Liberty won the penalty kick tiebreaker.
“Today, the girls played outstanding,” Cerezo said. “They kept possession of the ball, they played hard, and they followed every coaching they had, and that’s all we need from them.”
The Rangerettes took the lead early in the match when Amairani Ruvalcaba scored off a corner kick from Emily Jones less than 10 minutes into the contest.
That score may have been enough with the way Fortner was playing in goal as she would either be in the right spot for the save or she would dive to punch the ball away from the goal.
“She literally saved quite a few goals,” said Cerezo about his keeper. “She’s a great goalie. From last year and the year before, she’s been the starting goalie. I actually think that today proves she belongs there.”
Said Fortner, “I just did everything for my team. It was pretty tough. They have great shooters and credit to them, but our defense worked so hard. It was a great win.”
Cerezo also gave credit to the rest of his defense and them assisting on the clean sheet. This was Greenwood’s 10th shutout win in district play this season.
“Outstanding, outstanding,” he said. “All four of them were playing well, they were marking, they were actually not giving up space, and they were running with them. They were really good. I can’t complain.”
The Rangerettes added an insurance goal with 35:52 remaining when Addyson Adame fed Jones, who scored from the right side to give her team the 2-0 advantage.
The Rangerettes look to continue the momentum at 5:30 p.m. Friday when they travel to Snyder.