The Demons of Santa Fe High might have showed up for the cross-city boys soccer match against Capital on Tuesday, but they didn't stay long.

"We had a decent first half, but in the second half, we didn't come out ready to play," Demons head coach A.J. Herrera, following a 2-0 Jaguars victory. "We didn't play with heart. Bottom line."

The Jaguars did. Coming off a flurry of recent matches the past two weeks, Capital was ready to play.

"I thought this was our biggest win of the year and we played our best soccer," Capital head coach Eugene Doyle said. "But our goal is to get ready for district and this was just a step toward that."

Capital's Jairo Ortiz, a senior midfielder, put the Jaguars (5-4) on the board in the 65th minute on an assist from Victor DeAvila. Richard Ramirez followed on an assist from Douglas Membreño in the 79th minute.

Doyle gave kudos to his 'keeper Erick Blanco, who recorded five saves and "played a much bigger role in the win."

Capital will have time for an actual practice before playing again Monday.

"We still haven't had a full practice since two weeks ago Thursday," Doyle said. "We haven't been able to work on anything and I'm looking forward to getting back to the practice field"

The Demons fell to 4-4-1 and have some pieces to pick up.

After going scoreless in the first half, Herrera expected his team to come out stronger for the second half.

"It didn't happen," he said. "There are some things we need to think about because district play is coming up soon, and if we don't bring our hearts to the game, it's not going to be a good result."

St. Michael's 8, Portales 0

The Horsemen were eager to put on a scoring show against the District 2A-AAA foe Rams.

Perhaps too eager.

Ball movement was confined to the middle of the field, and St. Michael's (5-1-1 overall, 3-0 2A-AAA) jumped out to a 3-0 halftime lead at Brother Abdon Field. Horsemen head coach Merritt Brown had to remind his team during the break that it could use the rest of the field.

"The guys were a little hungry for goals," Brown said. "We talked about moving the ball around from side to side and getting shots from there."

Eight Horsemen evenly distributed goals, with Gabe Ortiz putting the finishing touches on the rout in the 78th minute. The Horsemen outshot Portales 30-1.

GIRLS SOCCER

St. Michael's 7, Portales 0

Seven shots were seven too many for the Lady Horsemen of St. Michael's to face in a previous District 2A-AAA match against Portales.

"We started slow, but we did keep them from taking any shots, and that's something I emphasized before the game," St. Michael's head coach Ed Velie said. "Emily Toczek did a good job at sweeper and was the main reason why we kept them from getting any shots."

Michelle Bustamante had two goals for St. Michael's, which improved to 9-1 overall, 3-0 in 2A-AAA. Kate Vadurro, Caitlin Smith, Liana Coppola, Kate Ayala and Jami Hogan also added goals.

Jamie Palermo added three assists for the Lady Horsemen, who outshot Portales 37-0.

Taos 1, Santa Fe Prep 0 (shootout)

The Lady Tigers found themselves down 2-1 in the penalty-kick shootout, but goals from Morika Hensley and Sydney Swinehart combined with three straight saves from Melinda Young for a 3-2 advantage and the nondistrict win at Brennand Field.

"They got a save (on the first shot) and our girl shot it over the net on the second one," Taos head coach Yancey Ranspot said. "So it was 1-0 and then it went to 2-1, but that was it. Our goalkeeper made some great saves."

Santa Fe Prep head coach Rennae Ross said the Blue Griffins (2-5) dominated possession, outshooting Taos 8-4, but the problem was in execution.

"We totally dominated the match," Ross said. "We had possession but we just couldn't put in the net. I don't know how to fix that."

Santa Fe Prep also lost two starters — Julia Harris and Ellie Stone — to injury. Ross said Stone broke her ankle, while Harris had a fractured wrist.

VOLLEYBALL

Los Alamos 3, St. Michael's 0

The Lady Horsemen struggled against the Lady Hilltoppers' serve, and the offense suffered for it in a nondistrict match in Perez-Shelley Gymnasium.

Los Alamos won 25-20, 25-19, 25-15.

"Their serves were really tough, and they played good defense," St. Michael's head coach Chela Butler said. "We could not get an offense going on out serve-receive like we wanted to. It was a struggle all night."

Aimee Geyer and Sara Hattis shared team highs in kills with five, and setter Charlie Lucero managed only eight assists. Hattis was strong on defense, as she recorded five blocks.

St. Michael's fell to 4-2.

Pojoaque 3, Española Valley 0

The Class AAA Elkettes made it four-for-four against District 2AAAA, sweeping the host Lady Sundevils, 25-12, 25-23, 25-12, in Edward Medina Gymnasium.

In fact, Española, Capital, Taos and Los Alamos failed to win a game against Pojoaque, which improved to 4-0.

The pattern to those wins was very similar.

"We wanted to worry about what we were doing," Elkettes head coach Brian Ainsworth said. "We figured we'd get some opportunities off of some free balls. So we jumped out 10-2 (in Game 1) and got it as high as 18-6."

The Elkettes were sluggish in the second game, but they adjusted appropriate for the finale.

Kiana Vigil did her part, coming up with four aces among her 10 service points in Game 3.

Five players had at least six kills, with Dionna Montoya leading the way with 10 kills.