Clovis boys' soccer team moves to 4-0

ALBUQUERQUE — The soccer season is a process, and it’s hard to get too excited or upset about anything in the first week-plus of action.

Still, the process has been good for the Clovis boys by any metric. They haven’t seen the friendly confines of Leon Williams Stadium yet, but the Wildcats are 3-0 and have yet to trail this year following Saturday’s 3-1 win over Hope Christian.

“We’re just taking it game by game and trying to improve on the things we do well,” Clovis coach Greg Trujillo said of the Wildcats’ first 3-0 start since 2015. “The things we don’t do well, we’re trying to fix.”

Elias Ortega had a pair of goals, including the eventual game winner on a second-half penalty kick, and Kade Jones had two assists in the victory.

Ortega got Clovis on the board in the 23st minute, just minutes after Jonathan Puga nearly scored on an errant pass to Hope goalkeeper Kian McKenna.

“We’ve been working the wings really well, and that’s what helped us,” Trujillo said. “Hope Christian was trying to open us up, get us out of position. We were working that left side, and that’s when Elias was able to convert.”

Hope Christian (0-1) scored in the 35th minute on Jayden McKenna’s tally, as an indirect kick bounced off a defender’s leg and trickled past the goal line.

The Huskies got hit with a few penalties, and the Wildcats converted. Jones was tackled in the box — pretty blatantly, Trujillo said — and a penalty kick was awarded. Ortega got the call and buried it in the 62nd minute.

Three minutes later, any chance at a Hope comeback was snuffed out when Preston Garrillo got hit with a red card for arguing a tackle call. The Huskies played a man down the rest of the way, and Jones found Puga for an insurance goal in the 73rd minute.

“He could have taken the shot, but he laid it off to Jonathan Puga and he just placed it upper corner,” Trujillo said. “That’s what we’ve talked about all summer. They’re making that extra pass, and we’re converting things so much easier. We’re getting a lot of looks at the goal, which is nice.”

Clovis goes back on the road to Los Alamos for the Louie Cernicek Tournament, starting with Goddard in a 1 p.m. Friday battle.