Sammy Mendoza Shines in PK Shootout at Muskogee

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Sandite sophomore goalie Sammy Mendoza is making a name for himself as a top penalty kick defender, saving six tries over his first three matches of the season.

After notching three PK saves in an overtime shootout at Muskogee on Tuesday, he saved a regulation penalty kick against Metro Christian Thursday night to earn his first clean sheet in a 2-0 road upset.

“He’s a lockdown keeper when it comes to penalties,” says second-year head coach Brent Lollis. “He has earned his spot for sure.”

The Sandites are now 3-0 in the regular season after going 3-0-1 in preseason scrimmages.

On Tuesday they battled to a 1-1 draw against the Roughers (1-1) with Nathaniel McClaren scoring the lone goal in regulation before going to PKs for the second time.

McClaren, Elias Villanueva, and Nic Roberts found the back of the net for the Sandites while Mendoza recorded three saves for the win.

As a 4A playoff qualifier last season, Metro Christian (1-1) could make a case as the favorite to win Thursday night, but the Patriots were stifled by a stingy back four that only allowed four shots on goal, each of which was saved by Mendoza.

Elgin Hernandez gave his team the lead in the 8th minute, then McClaren scored a header off a corner kick from Zac Ritter with 10:13 left in the first half.

“It’s huge,” said Lollis. “We watched film on them so we knew some things we wanted to try and we got the two goals in the first half. As a coach, you’d like them to come out in the second half and get a couple more, so we’ll work on keeping our foot on the gas, but we’ll take a win.”

The Patriots nearly connected on a shot from Charlie Coffman late in the first half that traveled over Mendoza’s fingers, but it caught the crossbar and ricocheted clear.

They had another opportunity with a penalty kick from Brayden Haveman late in the match but Mendoza’s save preserved the shutout.”

“I don’t think they’ve reached their potential yet,” said Lollis. “I think they would tell you we have more to give. “

Girls

The Lady Sandites suffered their first loss of the year Thursday night after surrendering two goals in the opening minutes to last year’s 4A State Runners-Up.

Sydney Maddox, a Missouri-Kansas City signee, put her team on top just two minutes into the match. Sasha Redman added a second goal soon after and the remaining 75 minutes were scoreless for both teams.

“We started slow,” said head coach Cisco Chavez. “We’ve got to come out faster.”

The Lady Sandites are short several starters, though most are expected to return to action after Spring Break. The exception being last year’s leading scorer, Lainey Stanfill, who will miss the season following an ACL surgery.

“Overall, we held them to two (goals) for 75 minutes so I’m happy with the result. The girls didn’t give up and they fought.”

The Lady Sandites out-shot the Patriots 17 to 9 but most were off-target and Berkely Seefeldt made six saves for the clean sheet.

“We’ve just got to find the back of the net,” said Chavez. “We’ve got to find more goal scorers. But overall, we’re on pace for everything. We’re dominating possession, we’re dominating shots - we’ve just got to find the back of the net.”

“This is a good Metro team and we knew coming into the game that this would be a very physical battle.”

On Tuesday the Sandites won a 4-1 battle at Muskogee (1-1) behind Ava Watts’s second hat trick of the season.

The Roughers took a 1-0 lead off a corner kick early in the match and held the lead till the final minutes of the half when Watts scored her first two goals. Alyssa Cunningham and Watts scored again in the second half.

The Sand Springs girls will return to action Thursday the 23rd when they look to defend their title as the reigning Collinsville tournament champions.

Sandite Soccer Sweeps Tulsa NOAH, Ava Watts Scores Hat Trick

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.

Sandite Weekly Sports Roundup: Two Sandites Medal at State Wrestling Tournament

The Sand Springs boys’ wrestling team took tenth place at the OSSAA 6A State Tournament with two placers in their best finish since 2020.

Mitchell Smith took fourth place at 150 pounds to end his career as a four-time State qualifier and two time placer with a 108-35 record.

Mason Harris took fourth place at heavyweight and finished his junior year with a team-best 40-9 record.

The Sandites went 3-3 in the wrestle-in round and 3-3 in the quarterfinals with Jayden Pait, Jaxon Trotter, and Ethan White earning their way into the main bracket.

Smith, Harris, and Kase Skaggs all advanced to the semifinals before taking their first losses. Skaggs and Trotter were both eliminated one win short of the podium.

Sand Springs will graduate Smith and White but will return 12 starters and seven state qualifiers next season.

Soccer

The CPHS boys soccer team improved to 2-0-1 in preseason action while the girls fell to 2-1-0.

The boys won 3-0 against Collinsville on Tuesday with goals from Elias Villanueva, Zac Ritter, and Elgin Hernandez, with Brian Boyles recording an assist. They battled to a 1-1 draw against Sapulpa with Eli Bise scoring the lone goal.

The girls fell 2-1 against Collinsville, with Alyssa Cunningham scoring the lone goal on an assist from Ava Watts. On Thursday they defeated Sapulpa 4-1 with two goals from Watts and one goal apiece from Avery Miller and Ashley Feigenbaum.

The Sandites have one more scrimmage scheduled Tuesday against Glenpool before opening the regular season Friday with home matches against Tulsa NOAH at 6:00 p.m.

Bowling

The CPHS girls bowling team of Tabby Hicks, Olivia Alexander, Zoe Butler, and Kyeara Owens finished as Regional Runners-Up on February 18th in Sapulpa, advancing to the State Tournament Saturday in Enid.

At State they sat in second place after eight games of qualifying, but were eliminated in the first round of bracket play.

“I’m so proud of this team,” said coach Shawn Judy. “Three out of the four girls on the team, this is the first year they have competed in high school bowling. I believe we overachieved every expectation that anybody put on us.”

Baseball

Sandite baseball improved to 5-1-1 in preseason games, losing 6-7 at Owasso on Monday before winning 9-6 Tuesday against Bartlesville and 13-0 Thursday against Glenpool. On Saturday they beat Edmond Santa Fe 2-0 and tied Noble 3-3.

The Sandites will travel to Pryor on Monday and will host Union on Tuesday to conclude the preseason.

The regular season will kick off Thursday at 11:00 a.m. against Greenwood, AR with a home game Friday at 6:00 p.m. against Shawnee. Sand Springs will travel to Yukon Saturday at noon.