Clovis edges Rams

CLOVIS — A pair of freshmen helped carry the Clovis High girls soccer team past Portales in a 3-1 win at home for the Wildcats.

Freshman Madison Lynch opened the scoring for Clovis with a free kick goal from about 30 yards out in the final minutes of the first half before adding a penalty kick goal six minutes into the second half.

"When you have a player who can put the ball in from those places it's a good thing, especially when she's a freshman because she'll be around for a while," Clovis coach Traci Sievers said.

After threatening to score for most of the first half, Lynch was relieved when the Wildcats finally got on the scoreboard with four minutes until halftime.

"It was stress-relieving and it gave us more confidence," Lynch said.

Fellow freshman Danielle Griego scored the Wildcats other goal, deflecting a shot off Portales goalkeeper Zully de la Torre who came sliding out of the net for the save attempt.

Griego also helped set up Lynch's penalty kick goal with her nifty dribbling, drawing a foul inside the box.

"She's got a lot of speed and breakaway speed, so it's good because those two can move around up top and seem to give the defense problems, and they're both freshmen," Sievers said.

Portales had a couple defensive breakdowns that it couldn't come back from, but hung tight with Clovis all night.

"We just broke down a little bit on defense," Rams coach Ruben Tellez said. "We just need to do a better job of controlling the ball, passing the ball, our touches. But you know what, these girls played their hearts out and I'll say we gave Clovis a run tonight."

Portales looked to strike first with a free kick goal midway through the first half, but the score was waived off as the referee ruled an indirect kick, requiring an extra touch of the ball before a shot at net.

"It's just like the balloon is inflated, then once you let the air out, I think that's what happened to us," Tellez said.

The Rams' lone goal came midway through the second half when Clovis goalkeeper Hannah Howell could not control a centering pass from Angie Gonzalez and Micaela Garcia put the rebound into the back of the net.

Portales had a couple of other chances to score but had trouble connecting.

"We lost control of the ball a few times where we had opportunities and just our touches and our control was a bit shaky and if we can do a better job of that, we can have more chances on offense," Tellez said.

Sievers appreciated the physical nature of Thursday night's game as it helped prepare the Wildcats for what lies ahead.

"I'm glad that they played physical and we were able to handle that a little bit because our district is going to be physical so it was a good warmup for us," Sievers said.