LA CUEVA GIRLS PICK UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF
For the La Cueva girls soccer team the future looks promising on the pitch this season. “I have a really good team, they’re older,” explained head coach Amber Ashcraft. “I have ten seniors on the team, and all 10 played on the championship team last year and seven of them started in that game.”
One of those returners is senior Riley Erickson who recently committed to play at New Mexico State. “I went on a visit recently, I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go, and I went on that visit and I completely loved the team, I loved the coaches, and the culture is just amazing,” said Erickson. “I’m close to my family, but I’m also far away.”
“She a phenomenal player,” said her coach. “She is lethal back there, can cross the ball, makes amazing tackles, and has probably one of the best throw ins of anyone in New Mexico.”
La Cueva is taking their talents out of state. Later this month, the Bears travel to Seattle to face the Washington state champs. “It’s huge for the team,” said Ashcraft. “In high school, they don’t get to travel too much with their teammates. They do it all the time in club soccer, but not in high school soccer. The comradery and the team building is huge.”
“We went to Ohio last year, so I think playing a different team out of state will be super cool,” said Erickson.
For the past two years, the Bears blended soccer with tennis as part of their daily workout. “If they can juggle a tennis ball, then the ability to play on turf becomes a lot easier. Their touches get so much better throughout the season once they start to being able to juggle the tennis balls.”
“They tell us it helps our touch,” said senior Makena Hix. “We didn’t believe them at first, but after we started doing it last year, we could really see the improvement in our touch.”
“We didn’t think it would help at all, but it actually helped us so much,” said Erickson.
“Me and my assistant coach love the Premier League more than anything, so we study a bunch of teams in the Premier League, and we start seeing what they do, and so we picked up on a couple things.”
So, if the La Cueva Bears were a Premier League team, which one would they be?
“For me it would be Liverpool, I’m a Liverpool fan. She would be Chelsea. So, maybe we can mix the two,” Ashcraft said with a smile.
