Clovis girls fall in tight battle with Centennial

LAS CRUCES — Anyone who followed Clovis girls soccer this past season would likely have been disappointed but not surprised with Friday’s outcome of the Lady Wildcats’ first-round state 5A playoff game against Centennial.

The Lady ’Cats suffered overtime tie after overtime tie, one-goal overtime loss after one-goal overtime loss, all fall. Friday, while seeded 11th in the state tournament, the ’Cats endured a 1-0 regulation loss to Centennial at Las Cruces’ Field of Dreams.

A one-goal loss to end a season chock full of tight games.

“So I guess it’s one of those things that you know you’re competitive and you’re in every game,” Clovis head coach Traci Sievers said. “There are some years you win those and some years you don’t.”

Clovis’ season ended at 10-6-4, while Centennial (18-1-2) moved forward to a state quarterfinal against La Cueva, scheduled to begin 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Friday, the Lady Hawks scored what turned out to be the game’s lone goal with roughly a minute remaining in the first half.

Clovis’ starting goalkeeper, junior Hanna Nussbaumer, was injured 15 minutes into the game after getting tagged by a Centennial player’s cleat. Sievers thought a red card should have been forthcoming.

“She got cleated pretty good,” Sievers said. “No call.”

Something did come out of the episode, however.

“When I told the referees about it at halftime, that it was a cleat injury, they started calling it a lot more in the second half, and one of (Centennial’s) players did get a yellow card in the second half.”

Nussbaumer’s injury also provided an opportunity for Clovis’ backup goalie, sophomore Ayden Dosher, who performed well enough in net to be named the Lady Wildcats’ player of the game.

Offensively, Clovis didn’t have a lot of opportunities — four shots on goal, Sievers estimated, with a few shots that weren’t quite on goal.

And so, Centennial’s goal held up and the Lady Wildcats’ season ended. With it, ended the high school soccer careers of five Clovis seniors, all starters — Sofia Rico, Aydan Everett, Madeline Howalt, Kiyrha Lilly and Angelina Lopez.

“All five seniors received some all-district honors this year,” Sievers noted.

Rico, Lopez and Everett were all co-captains, making junior Madison Lynch the lone captain returning next year.

Rico, normally a midfielder, had to play up for much of the season due to a rash of injuries to Clovis’ forwards, and she responded by leading the team with 24 goals.

The injuries also had a plus side for Clovis’ future.

“We did play a lot of girls this year,” Sievers said, “so we have a lot of girls back with experience.”