PARKER — The Mountain Vista boys soccer team has not exactly pummeled its opponents with offensive explosions.
Yet the Golden Eagles have still managed to do one thing — win.
Mountain Vista, ranked third in Class 5A, once again used its stellar defense, along with two goals from Tidiane Dia, to keep its record unblemished with a 2-1 victory Thursday at No. 7 Chaparral in a Continental League showdown.
Mountain Vista (11-0) remains the only unbeaten team in the conference at 8-0. Chaparral, which had not lost since its season opener against No. 4 Rocky Mountain, fell to 7-2-3 and 5-1-2 in the league.
“The difference is they are really playing for each other,” Mountain Vista coach Theresa Etchermeyer said. “We’re not winning games by three or four goals like a lot of other teams are doing. They stay with what the plan is. They listen to me, they listen to each other, and they help each other.”
Dia opened the scoring in the 14th minute, working through several Chaparral defenders to record his sixth goal of the season. Dia struck again 10 minutes into the second half, controlling a centering pass from Dylan Richards and spinning on a Chaparral defender to give Mountain Vista a 2-0 edge.
The Wolverines’ Hunter Nail cut the lead to 2-1 by scoring just the third goal allowed by the Golden Eagles this season. Chaparral had one last chance to tie the match on a free kick from just outside the penalty box with 14.9 seconds remaining, but Mountain Vista goalkeeper Trevor Obering made the clinching save.
Chaparral played without leading scorer William Davis, who missed the match because of an accumulation of yellow cards.
“(Davis) is one of our starting forwards . . . so it was a big loss not to have him,” Chaparral coach Jim Hall said. “But that’s not why we lost. In the first half, there were periods where we controlled the ball well, but when we got into the attacking third we kind of stalled a little.”
Mountain Vista 1 1 — 2
Chaparral 0 1 — 1
Goals — Dia, MV, 14th minute; Dia (Richards), MV, 49th minute; Nail, Chap, 55th minute. Shots on goal — MV 2-3 — 5; C 1-2 — 3. Saves — MV (Obering 2); C (Sharp 3). Corner kicks — MV 2-1—3; C 1-1—2. Fouls — MV 5-6—1; C 3-12—15. Offside — MV 3-0—3; C 0-1—1. Yellow cards — MV: McElyea; C: Nail.
