East Mountain got a complete team effort in its Sept. 27 home matchup against Pojoaque Valley, but it was a pair of freshmen who lifted the Lady Timberwolves to victory.
In a weather-impacted game that was even more challenging for the Lady T’Wolves because they were missing some key players, freshmen Samantha York and Ashley Bustillos found the back of the net for the first time in their varsity careers to give East Mountain a 2-1 win in overtime.
York got East Mountain on the board early in the first half and Bustillos scored the golden goal in OT.
“I still don’t know how I feel,” Bustillos said about her game-winning goal. “Like, I feel like it’s a fever dream almost, yeah.”
Ava Podzemny attacking the goal during East Mountain’s match against Pojoaque Valley, Sept. 27, 2022. Photos by Ger Demarest.
East Mountain came out strong, winning possession and attacking.
In the sixth minute, East Mountain’s Sienna Valdez led a breakaway and fired a shot at the goal from the front edge of the 6-yard area. Pojoaque’s goalkeeper got both hands on the shot, but she tapped the ball back into a crowd—and York was there to knock it in for an early 1-0 advantage.
“I think it bounced off one of their players and it was in the air, and I got it from the air and into the goal, I was super-happy,” York said, adding, “Without my team on that goal it wouldn’t have gone in.”
In the second half, the game was suspended due to lightning. The delay lasted more than an hour and 45 minutes.
When play resumed, rain was falling and both teams were a little out of sync, but Pojoaque punched in a goal in the 58th minute to knot the score at 1-1.
“I felt like we were really in control the first half and then after the layoff we came out a little sluggish,” East Mountain head coach Jason Burnette said.
Throughout the remainder of the second half, East Mountain had a few opportunities but came up short. A free kick in the 62nd was spot-on frame but got saved by Pojoaque’s goalkeeper. Savannah Gomez took a long-range shot in the 70th that was barely a foot over the crossbar, and Ava Podzemny fired a missile at the goal just before the end of regulation that was wide right by inches, forcing overtime.
Three minutes into OT, Gomez hammered a shot that Pojoaque’s keeper saved with a diving, one-handed stop.
Then in the 86th, Rylee Allen sent a cross pass to Bustillos who banged it in for the win.
“My mind was everywhere, I was scared, I was nervous, but I mean, Rylee sent it and I had to make that goal, and I’m really glad I did,” Bustillos said.
“I’m glad we hung in there,” Burnette said. “It’s crazy, I mean, we’ve got some injuries, we’re missing one of our more experienced players, so we told the girls they had to step up, and we needed somebody to find the net—and we had two freshmen who had never scored before get us on the board and win an overtime game.”
