Cats blank Roswell in girls soccer

CLOVIS — After last Tuesday's 4-0 win over Roswell, the Clovis girls soccer team has been able to, as Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers would put it — R-E-L-A-X.

The Lady Wildcats' four-goal victory at Leon Williams Stadium kept them unbeaten in District 4-5A at 2-0-1, but also ended the first half of their district slate, meaning they had a week before they had to play another game. They will begin the second half of district competition at home this Tuesday against Carlsbad.

Between the two Tuesdays, the Lady 'Cats have had a chance to recoup for the season's home stretch and work on whatever they need to.

It's an opportunity to do plenty while not doing quite as much.

"Shooting and finishing. And just to rest," Clovis sophomore striker Madison Lynch, who scored two goals in last Tuesday's victory, said about how her team would use the break.

"We'll work on finishing," Clovis head coach Traci Sievers said. "And we've got some adjustments on defensive positioning. We've got film that we can watch now on all the district teams, so we'll spend some time watching film."

The Roswell game

Overcoats, hoodies and gloves have replaced short-sleeve shirts for the Clovis girls soccer fans. And the games they're watching are different, too.

Gone are the pre-district days of eight- and nine-goal wins for the Lady Wildcats. Their district games have been a lot tighter, a lot more competitive.

Take Tuesday night's game against Roswell at Leon Williams Stadium, for instance. Though the final score was 4-0 Clovis, the game was locked in a scoreless tie at halftime, and it was just a 1-0 Wildcat lead inside the second half's final 15 minutes.

Unlike their first two district games — a scoreless overtime tie at Carlsbad and a one-goal victory at Hobbs — the Lady Wildcats had a second-half surge Tuesday to gain some separation.

"Yeah, finally," Clovis head coach Traci Sievers said, laughing. "I felt like we were getting good looks (in the first half). And we talked about some things at halftime, and the girls seemed to have more energy in the second half. And I think they really started playing together a little bit more in the second half."

"I think we kept the intensity up. We just needed to get this win," said Clovis sophomore striker Madison Lynch, who scored the game's first goal and wound up with two.

Clovis improved to 2-0-1 in district play, 12-2-1 overall, while dropping Roswell to 0-3 in district, 8-8-1 overall.

Though the first half was scoreless, the teams were not without their opportunities. With less than 25 minutes to go before halftime, Clovis forward Kiyrha Lilly was headed toward the Roswell goal, but went somersaulting through the air after Roswell goalie Maricela Rodriguez came out to collect the ball and the two collided.

A shot by Clovis' Kelsey Kendall bounced wide right not long before Roswell's Kaileigh Holloway had a shot hit the crossbar. With less than eight minutes left before the break, Clovis' Nevaeh Coronado played one left to Lynch who played it left to Danielle Griego, who took a shot that went a bit right.

And with under four minutes remaining in the half, Griego took a shot and Lynch tried the follow-up, but neither got past Rodriguez. A scramble ensued in front of the Roswell net, but still no goal resulted.

It didn't take long into the second half before Clovis found the net at last.

With less than three minutes gone by in the new half, Sofia Rico sent a pass from center to Lynch off on the right side of the goal. Lynch had time to stop and set herself before blasting the ball diagonally into the left corner of Roswell's net.

"My team needed me to make that one," Lynch said.

The Lady Wildcats tried unsuccessfully for more than 20 minutes to increase their lead. About a minute after Lynch's goal, Rico attacked the net and took a shot, but it was stopped by Rodriguez.

With just under 17 minutes left in the second half, Griego threaded her way between two Roswell defenders to free herself for a shot, but it was wide right.

And so the Lady 'Cats clung to their 1-0 lead until less than 15 minutes remained in regulation.

With roughly 14 1/2 minutes left, Lynch scored again, this time scissoring one sideways and in to make it a 2-0 game.

Five minutes later, Griego took a pass from Coronado and used some nifty footwork to get just inside the purple football end zone. From there, she booted the ball in and handed Clovis a 3-0 lead.

Coronado scored Clovis' final goal of the night inside the six-minute mark, putting home a rebound shot and lifting the Lady Wildcats into a 4-0 lead. Soon, Clovis goalie Hanna Nussbaumer's shutout was complete.

That second-half push had been the offensive difference for Clovis. The halftime discussion had been effective.

"We were talking about playing more of our game," Sievers said, "and looking for what we wanted to look for. I think sometimes we get a little antsy and know what we want but just kind of struggle with execution a little bit. I think second half, we really seemed to put it together."