Lady Cats dominate Lovington

Staff report

LOVINGTON — Ashley Gallagher had a career day, and Clovis High’s girls rolled to an easy 10-0 win over Lovington in Tuesday’s season opener.

Gallagher had five goals, including the opener four minutes in and the closing goal in the 72nd minute, as Clovis outshot Lovington 25-0.

Clovis coach Traci Sievers said the mercy-rule win wasn’t something the team expected going in, even though it was the first game in school history for Class 4A Lovington.

“You sometimes don’t know what to expect,” Sievers said. “They had 25 girls on their roster, with quite a mix of upperclassmen and lowerclassmen.”

Dani Rodriguez scored twice for Clovis, and other goal scorers were Jada Gooden, Arianna Meza and Jaci Sievers. Sievers and Meza, along with Gallagher, were part of a three-goal burst during three minutes in the first half.

With Clovis up 8-0 at the half, the rest of the match became a makeshift practice, with the team incorporating goalkeeper Shelby Jones into some possession work.

“We talked to the girls at halftime and said we had to get ready for the Las Cruces tournament, “ Sievers said. “We knew possession is going to be one of the keys, so we really worked on that for the second half.”

Clovis is off until it goes to the Cruces tourney Aug. 29-30.