Rules Question: Sett Legend + Soraka Wanderer

So, I had a situation come up at my last Nexus Night, and I'm looking for some help on clarifying the rules.

My opponent's stuff doesn't matter, just the situation. I had a [[Soraka Wanderer]] and a Recruit token, both buffed at a battlefield. My opponent attacked and defeated both of them. I wanted to use my Legend to save Soraka, and have Soraka save the Recruit. My opponent, and one of the other players who was watching, both said that wouldn't work.

Basically, they were arguing that there were two scenarios. First scenario, I save Soraka with my Sett Legend, and then her ability would no longer trigger and save the Recruit because she was no longer at the battlefield. Second scenario, I don't save Soraka with Sett Legend, and then she saves the Recruit but dies (or I could use Sett Legend to save the Recruit with the same outcome).

Is this the right rules interaction? I'm not knowledgeable enough to figure out what should have happened. Coming from MTG, I feel like I should have been able to order things in a way to save both units. Was there a way that I could have ordered things to save both units?

Thanks in advance!