ALBUQUERQUE — One word neatly described the situation facing the undefeated Santa Fe Preparatory Blue Griffins as they entered their match with Albuquerque Hope Christian on Friday afternoon.

A trap.

Playing their third game in five days on a wet, muddy field against an opponent more than willing to drop all 10 players back on defense, the Griffins still nearly came away a scoreless draw.

That is, until Huskies senior Calvin Cox sent in a direct kick from 30 yards out that looped toward the far left post and eluded Blue Griffins junior goalkeeper Danny Quinn, giving Hope Christian a 1-0 win.

"They defended really well, they extended really well in the midfield," Santa Fe Prep coach Hersch Wilson said. "We hardly had any time to do anything with the ball. They also dropped everybody back, so that we'd see 11 players behind the ball all the way back to the penalty. That's very hard to play through."

The Huskies (4-3), who played nothing but Class AAAA and AAAAA competition to this point of the season, kept a marker on McCall Sides, the state's top scorer in Class A-AAA with 27 points (12 goals, three assists).

Hope Christian made it tough for the Griffins to get anything going offensively while using its own counterattack to harass the Santa Fe Prep defense, which held its own but still needed Quinn to shut down a few great chances inside his own penalty box.

"They just kept going and going and going," captain Brian Lewis said. "We're really strong defensively in the back and a couple calls didn't go our way and sort of brought our momentum down. Overall we played a really good game.

"They're definitely the best team we've played so far."

Hope Christian ended the game with seven shots on goal compared to the Blue Griffins' one, although though Santa Fe Prep did earn three corner kicks compared the Huskies' one.

"Neither team had a lot of shots on goal but then they got that direct kick, and that was the difference," said Wilson.

It was a frustrating way to end the week for Santa Fe Prep, which defeated host Taos 2-1 on Monday and Las Vegas Robertson 4-1 Wednesday at home.

"We might be a little gassed," said Lewis. "Everybody gave it their all. We didn't sub much. There was just something about (the match). We couldn't click today."

The Blue Griffins were clicking before this hiccup. They opened District 2A-AAA play the week before with wins over Portales (3-1) and city rival Desert Academy (7-1). The team has outscored its opponents 26-6 so far, with only Class AAAA Santa Fe High scoring more than one goal.

Wilson said his team will have to expect more of the same tactics for the rest of the season.

"We have to learn to play against low-pressure teams, be positioned right and be patient so we can take shots from outside so they'll have to come out and defend us," Wilson said.

Lewis said Friday's match can do nothing but help the team as it moves into district play.

"There's nothing more useful than a loss to figure out what you're doing wrong and where to go from there," he said. "We saw great play and hustle, so there's a lot of potential there. This will help us move forward."