Santa Fe High was living its best boys soccer life heading into its District 5-5A match last year at Albuquerque Rio Grande.
An inexperienced squad lacking in depth, but not heart, was on a five-match winning streak and sitting pretty at 9-5 while leading the district at 4-0 as it faced the Ravens in a battle for first place. The Demons even held a 2-1 lead in the first half and the good fortune that seemed to follow the program over the previous 2 1/2 seasons was alive and well.
And then, it wasn’t.
Rio Grande rallied with a pair of unanswered goals to eke out a 3-2 win, and took Lady Luck with it. Santa Fe High finished the season going 2-3 and falling to third place in the district. That pushed the Demons out of contention for a spot in the Class 5A State Tournament — the first time in three seasons that happened.
“I don’t think we adapted well to circumstances in the second half [of the district season],” Santa Fe High head coach Chris Eadie said. “I don’t know if the loss pushed us over the edge, but it didn’t help. It was hard for us to figure things out after that.”
Until that loss to Rio Grande, the program had enjoyed its best stretch since soccer became a sanctioned sport in 1981. Starting with the 2021 state championship team, Santa Fe High went 49-11 with a blue trophy and a 5A semifinal appearance in 2022.
As the Demons venture into the 2024 season, they want to reestablish themselves as one of the top programs in the state and show that last season’s late fade was merely a blip on the radar.
“These guys have gotten bigger, stronger, more athletic and things,” senior striker Cy Anderson said. “So, I think we’re more prepared and I think we’re using some of the aggression from last year on this season.”
The good news is the bulk of last year’s team returns. Even better is the addition of several players who missed all or significant parts of the 2023 season because of injuries or ineligibility due to grades or transfers.
For the first time under Eadie’s second tenure with the program (he coached the Demons from 1997-2007), the program has depth to go with talent. This year as the makings of a special one, much like the 2021 and 2022 teams.
“I think everyone knows that we have a chance at state this year,” said senior midfielder Evan Martinez. “I think we have a great chance of going far in the playoffs and we will be a competitive team.”
Martinez is a big reason for optimism. He was supposed to step up into a role in the midfield last year, but a gruesome broken left leg kept him on the shelf until the final week of the season. Now fully recovered, he offers size, experience and ball-handling that should mesh with the dynamic forward duo of Anderson and fellow senior Chris Solano.
The pair were responsible for 54 of the Demons’ 70 goals last year, with Anderson recording a 5A-best 32 goals. The combination of Anderson’s speed and Solano’s size and strength make for a potent duo, but Eadie said the team has more scoring option than it did last year.
“I think we will be a more well-rounded group with seven or eight goal scorers,” Eadie said. “So it is going to be harder for teams to defend us. And because our depth, we will be a little bit more unpredictable.”
The Demons also have junior midfielder Joaquin Esquibel and defender Jonathan Wheeler, who sat out last year after transferring from St. Michael’s. Esquibel was a starter as a freshman for the Horsemen, while Wheeler was a second-team All-State selection as a sophomore in 2022.
Solano said those additions, along with the returning players from last season, take some of the pressure off of the starters — something that hasn’t been the case, even on the 2021 and 2022 teams.
“None of our starting players feel like we’re taking a step back when we go off [the field],” Solano said. “Every player we have on the varsity roster, they come in with the same intensity, if not better. I believe that’s going to make our team way better.”
Their additions fortify what was already going to be a solid team, but Eadie said the key will be developing chemistry and finding the right lineups that can effectively utilize its depth.
“It’s fun to develop strategies and to play around with formations,” Eadie said. “And to be able to adjust our formations and emphasis to our opponents. We’re more flexible and adaptable as a result.”
Eadie pointed out the team played very well during its 12 scrimmages at a pair of summer camps at Denver and Rio Rancho Cleveland. The Demons won four of five matches at the Cleveland scrimmage, which came on the heels of returning from Colorado.
The good vibes from the summer continued during Friday’s scrimmage against crosstown rival Capital, as Santa Fe High scored five times and dominated play.
Eadie hopes the success from the offseason continues into the start of the regular season, which begins Tuesday at former district foe Albuquerque High. Combined with Thursday’s home opener against Albuquerque Volcano Vista, the Demons will have a good idea where they stand in the 5A pecking order by the end of the week.
But that was the head coach’s plan for this season. Santa Fe High will take on reigning 5A champion Hobbs at the Albuquerque Academy Invitational and 1A/4A champion Albuquerque Sandia Prep at its tournament in September.
Santa Fe High and Capital move into District 2-5A, where they will see the likes of Albuquerque schools La Cueva, Eldorado, Sandia and Manzano. Eadie said the district could have as many as four teams make it to state. He hopes the Demons are one of them.
“If we stay healthy and positive, I think we’ll be OK,” Eadie said. “We will have some bumps on the road. Heck, we might lose both [matches] this week. I gotta remind the guys at practice we could go oh-and-2 and that might require some adjustments.”
That might be necessary if the Demons want to resume living their best soccer life this season.