Girls soccer: La Cueva stifles Hope Christian, ending Huskies' 34-game win streak

The La Cueva Bears had been talking about this scenario. On Wednesday night, La Cueva saw it materialize.

“Hope is an amazing squad,” said Bears senior Danae De Costa. “No one can take that away from them. But we knew what we had to do to end their streak.”

Not since Oct. 12 of the 2021 season had Hope Christian’s girls lost a soccer game.

That 23-month, 34-game streak ended Wednesday at the APS Complex, as De Costa’s rebound goal early in the second overtime gave La Cueva (4-0-1) a dramatic 2-1 victory in the semifinals of the Albuquerque Metro Championships.

“We’ve been talking about it, dreaming about it,” De Costa said. “Putting it in the back of the net to end their streak.”

De Costa was in the right place at the right time after teammate Elena Evans hit the underside of the crossbar on an initial shot attempt. The ball bounced near the goal line, and all De Costa had to do was pounce and finish.

The teams traded goals in the early stages of the first half. Hailey Sanchez of the Huskies (4-1) finished in the seventh minute, but the Bears answered in the 15th with a goal from Makena Hix.

La Cueva on Friday night at 7:15 will play Albuquerque Academy in the championship game.

The Chargers got an early goal from Addie Spratley in the 16th minute, and the outstanding goalkeeping of all-stater Cara Anderson kept rival St. Pius (3-1) out of the net in a 1-0 victory in the other semifinal Wednesday night.

Academy (4-0) has yet to allow a goal in four matches this season.

“Cara did an unbelievable job of keeping them out of goal,” said Chargers coach Andrew Wiese.

Spratley on her goal got control at the top of the box, turned, and fired a shot into the right corner, just inside the post, for the game’s only tally.