Demons, Wildcats split on opening day

WASHINGTON — Day 1 of the high school soccer season took place on Tuesday night at Washington Wellness Park, and both the hosting Demons and visiting us Columbus/Winfield-Mount Union Wildcats walked away with victorious.

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The Demons pitched a shut out in the girls’ game, beating the Wildcats 2-0. Columbus/WMU earned a comeback victory in the boys’ game, winning 3-2.

Washington scored twice in the first half to win the girls’ game. Ashley Remirez scored the first goal of the game with 6:44 remaining in the half, taking a turnover inside the box and firing it into the net, and Maya Murphy added one right at the first half buzzer, settling down a corner kick and making it 2-0 with a hot shot past Wildcat keeper Samarah Garza.

Neither Garza, or Washington’s Aleigha Medley, gave up anything in the second half. Both teams had their chances, but the Demon girls held on to start the season 1-0.

It was a wild boys’ game that saw a full one-hour lightning delay and five goals between the two teams.

Washington led 1-0 on a Kevin Marcelino goal early in the first half, and the scoreboard stayed at 1-0 until just after the weather delay was over. Columbus’ Kevin Perez put one into the right corner of the net with 13:43 remaining in the game, just 25 seconds after the action started up again.

The game was knotted 1-1 at halftime, but Washington’s John Recendez took an assist from Edwin Cortez and made it 2-1 with just 12:14 remaining in the game.

Columbus/WMU tied the game up on a corner kick with 10:09, as Bryan Tlatenchi headed one in to give the Wildcats their second goal of the game. Then, just 21 seconds later, The Wildcats struck again when Sachiel Villagrana set up a teammate for a strike on the left side to send a stunning third goal into the net.

The game was the first soccer broadcast for the Southeast Iowa Union’s video network, Southeast Iowa Live. The Youtube and Facebook channels will host every home Demon game this spring.