Durant High School soccer teams posted their first sweep of the season Friday as both the girls and boys squads toppled Tulsa Hale at Paul Laird Field.
The Lady Lions ran away for a 10-0 mercy rule thumping to improve to 5-3 overall and 2-1 in district play. Coach John Wilmoth’s young Lions battled to a 2-1 decision for their first district triumph and second overall. Both teams dropped shutout decisions at Coweta earlier in the week with the girls falling 3-0 and the boys 2-0.
A pair of road contests await this week at Shawnee and Tulsa Edison before they return home to face Bishop Kelley on Tuesday.
Girls
Despite the early week loss to Coweta, Alex Martinez was strong in goal for the Lady Lions making eight saves with Ella Kinard also spurring the defensive charge to limit more scoring chances by the Lady Tigers.
Durant rebounded with its biggest offensive explosion of the season against Hale, ending the match on the mercy rule with still 16:30 remaining in the second half.
J.J. Patten sparked the barrage with four goals on six shots and also pitched in a pair of assists. Kamryn White contributed a pair of goals on six shot attempts.
Kira Hoffman scored once on four shots and tossed in two assists, Avery Blackburn also scored once on four shots and added an assist. Marigold Moore contributed one goal on five shots with Diana Hernandez scoring a goal as well on a penalty kick.
The Lady Lions got solid contributions across the board as Lily Ruiz notched one assist with two shots on goal, Aubree Wise had one assist and eight shots on goal and Mia Ibarra had one save as the starting goalkeeper in place of Martinez, who was out with an injury.
Boys
After struggling to get many scoring opportunities against Coweta, the Lions bounced back with a strong second half on Friday.
Durant trailed 1-0 at halftime but finally got off the schneid on a Joseph Flores unassisted goal early in the second half.
Less than 20 minutes into the final half they added what proved to be the decisive goal as Jonathon Hitchcock had a nice crossing pass that Otto Baskin punched through for the lead.
The Lion defense then held strong the remainder of the contest to preserve the win.
“It was really nice to win a close one,” Wilmoth commented. “We have been on the other side in previous games this year. I hope this will propel us to finish the season with more wins.”
Lion Sahajen Davis is shown with a Tulsa Hale player.
