After a promising preseason, the Charles Page High School soccer teams officially launched the 2023 regular season with a pair of wins against Tulsa NOAH Friday night at Memorial Stadium.
The Lady Sandites jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 6-2 triumph, while the boys battled to a 1-1 draw in regulation and secured the victory in a 4-2 overtime shootout.
The two teams are coming off very different paths from last season. The girls are looking to live up to and even surpass last year’s historic 12-5 campaign. The boys, meanwhile, are excited to have snapped a 13-match losing streak after going winless last season.
Ava Watts will be looked to as the Lady Sandites’ powerhouse scorer after totaling 16 goals in her sophomore campaign. She opened the season on the right foot with a hat trick against the Jaguars, her second of the week after scoring three goals in Tuesday’s Glenpool scrimmage as well.
“I’m really excited, really happy,” said head coach Cisco Chavez. “Ava’s going to do huge things for our program and the program that she decides to play for in the future. But she’s really standing out this year and picking up the goals.”
Last year’s scoring leader Lainey Stanfill will, unfortunately, miss the season after a recent ACL surgery. The sophomore totalled 23 goals last year but is expected to be sidelined till August.
“I’m a little nervous right now; we picked up some more injuries,” said Chavez. “We definitely got hit by the injury bug this preseason.”
“We’re trying to get others some more minutes, trying to figure out formations and things like that, and we have a few people missing the next few games. It’s going to be challenging this year with all the injuries that we have, but we’re still excited.”
The Lady Sandites out-shot NOAH 19 to 10 and dominated the first half with a 2-0 lead on Watts’s first two goals.
The Jaguar offense came alive in the second half but the Sandites had plenty of answers.
Watts made it a hat trick in the 47th minute before Yophiyyah Fish connected on a free kick to make it 3-1. Just 33 seconds later, Avery Miller broke loose a quick score in transition.
Alyssa Cunningham put her team up 5-1 just 20 seconds later and Lauren Foster scored the Sandites’ final goal in the 52nd minute. NOAH’s Kinzie Doss had the final point but the teams went scoreless for the final 21 minutes.
The boys’ match was a defensive battle as the Sandites recorded 13 shots on goal, but Jaguar goalie Elijah Hafer made 12 saves.
“Super proud of these guys,” said head coach Brent Lollis. “They did endure a lot last season and they’ve worked really hard in the offseason and preseason.”
“This is essentially the same team. We had some seniors, but a lot of the guys that were on the field tonight are the ones that went through those experiences last year. They’ve all worked their tails off and every single one of them is better and they’re kind of getting the reward for a year and a half of hard work.”
The Sandites went undefeated in the preseason with three wins and one draw, beating Glenpool 3-0 on Tuesday. Brian Boyles, Elgin Hernandez, and Dawson Puckett scored one goal apiece in the final scrimmage.
Boyles had the lone goal against NOAH just five minutes into the match before Fisher Self tied it up two minutes into the second half.
“(Boyles) is our leading scorer so far this season and I think he also probably leads with assists,” said Lollis.
“He’s a key player, he’s a great player. He’s got a lot of soccer ahead of him. That was a great strike for that goal. He had some adversity last year and we didn’t have him all year. He’s been one of the leaders on the team and it’s great to have him back.”
After a scoreless 38 minutes to end regulation, the Sandites prevailed on a pair of overtime saves from Sammy Mendoza and successful penalty kicks from Nic Roberts, Zac Ritter, Nathaniel McClaren, and Boyles.
NOAH had answers for the Sandites’ first two kicks and saved Elias Villanueva’s try, putting the pressure on Mendoza. The sophomore came through to keep the score at 2-2, then put his team on top with another save after McClaren’s successful shot. Boyles secured the match to pay back last year’s 4-2 loss.
“With this team, the secret is going to be staying healthy and staying hungry. If they do that, the sky’s the limit for them.”
Both teams will return to action Tuesday at Muskogee before traveling to Metro Christian on Thursday.
