Page girls soccer team aims to finish strong

Young team making improvements

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When your team is having a rebuilding year, even small victories count a lot. Such has been the case this season with the Sand Devils girls soccer team. Their record is currently 1-5 and they just lost to Northland Prep 8-0, but girls soccer head coach Ben Dalton focused on the game’s positives.

“We did a lot better than when we played them last time,” he said. “This time we stopped them scoring during the first part of the game.” 

This year’s team has only five seniors, after losing 13 seniors last year. Despite the year’s losses, Coach Dalton really likes how his team has improved over the course of the season. 

“We’ve made good progress as the season has gone on,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of my young players step up into leadership roles, and bigger roles. My junior class has been solid all season and I’m getting a lot more play coming from my sophomore class.”

Freshman Melinda Calnimptewa has become his leading scorer during the last part of the season. She’s scored eight goals overall and had a hat trick against Payson. 

Going into the final three games of the season, Coach Dalton wants his team to end on a high, positive note. 

“Of course, we’re going to focus on winning,” said Coach Dalton, “and we want to build some confidence that we can carry into next year.”

They play their final three games at home.