Clovis boys soccer team is 8-0

CLOVIS — Eight up, eight down.

Clovis’ boys soccer team remained perfect at 8-0 Thursday night, taking care of New Mexico Military Academy 5-0 at Yucca Middle School.

Bruno Armendariz and Carlos Valdivia combined on the shutout. And the Wildcats did it with a lot of the usual names. Except the return of Richard Masterson, who was just cleared to play two days ago after recovering from a sprained MCL then supplied a goal and an assist in Thursday’s game.

Clovis was already good. Masterson potentially making them better is a scary thought. At least to Wildcat opponents.

“He’s got a lot of speed and he’s really strong and physical,” Clovis head coach Greg Trujillo said of Masterson. “Elias (Ortega) and Kade (Jones) have to come out, he can go in. He’s really tecfhncally sound, so we never miss a beat when Elias or Kade are out.”

Ortega did score the first goal, about six minute in, getting a feed from Albert DeLeon.

20 minutes later, Masterson scored on a Jones assist.

“It was a nice little neat play,” Trujillo said, “a little give-and-go right in front of the goal.”

In the second half, Jones scored off a Devin Fowler assist; Jose Valladares scored after booting one from about 30 yards out that the NMMI goalie mishandled; and Ortega, off a Masterson assist, tipped in it over NMMI’s keeper who had come out to defend the shot.

The result was an 8-0 Clovis record.

“That’s uncharted waters,” Trujillo said. “We’re trying to keep the guys focused. Every team that we play we have to adjust to their style of play. Today, we got a little caught up in (NMMI’s) style of play and we kind of made adjustments. Hopefuly we can build on that before we get tested.”