Ironwood Ridge and Tucson played to a 1-1 tie Friday night in an important Division II, Section VI match. With the tie, both teams remain within striking distance of Salpointe for the section lead.

The Lancers are 7-0 in power rankings games and 3-0 in the section while the Badgers (5-1-1, 3-0-1) and Nighthawks (6-1-2, 2-1-1) are second and third respectively. Salpointe has yet to face either team in section play.

Ironwood Ridge dominated possession the first half but both teams remained scoreless until Mariah Loya found Maggie Freeh on a free kick in the 55th minute to put the Nighthawks up 1-0.

The Badgers picked up the pressure late and avoided the loss when freshman forward Layla Argote found the net in the 78th minute off of a rebound.  The score remained 1-1 through two overtime periods.

Though not quite a win, both teams seemed to feel a bit of relief in avoiding a loss which might have taken them out of contention.

"We lost a lot of senior starters from last year and we had to work through that," said Salpointe senior Avadney Gerard-Osburne. "Everyone knew about last year's team but no one knew what to expect from us this year. We want to get to state."

Gerard-Osburne will be playing for New Mexico next year and her teammate Alexandria Wright will help Pima continue its strong local presence.

As previously reported, Ironwood Ridge lost 11 seniors from last year but the team has found a way to remain a power. Freeh is a junior as is Loya and freshmen players such as Isabella Santavicca have stepped up to the challenge.

"We are still progressing as a team and we really can't be too upset about the tie," Loya said. "We played aggressive and I'm excited to be playing with our younger players."

Santavicca plays non stop on the field and is getting plenty of playing time because of it.

"It was intimidating at first being out there with the older girls and it's not what I expected to do," Santavicca explained. "But it's worked out well."

Although the section champion receives the automatic berth to the state playoffs, Ironwood Ridge is ranked sixth in the current AIA/MaxPreps rankings and Tucson is ninth. There will be nine at-large berths handed out after the seven section winners are awarded playoff spots.

The regular season ends on Thursday, January 28 and the playoffs begin the following Tuesday.