Lady Rams fall to Artesia in District 4-4A opener

PORTALES — The season and District 4-4A opener was a while coming for the Portales High girls soccer squad.

Meantime, Artesia was playing its fifth match of the campaign. The Lady Bulldogs took advantage of an edge in speed to dominate early en route to a 5-0 victory over the Lady Rams on Thursday at Greyhound Stadium.

The contest, originally slated for Tuesday, was originally postponed due to high winds.

“We started good and ended good; in the middle we struggled,” Lady Rams coach Bonnie Britton said. “But considering we (hadn’t) played a game, we did all right.”

PHS sophomore goalkeeper Keariana Killette kept the Bulldogs off the board early with a lunging save in a 1-on-1 situation. But in the 14th minute, sophomore midfielder Alanna Francis beat Killette with a breakaway to crack the scoring ice.

Artesia (2-3, 1-0 district) took control with three more goals before halftime and another less than two minutes into the second half.

Five players had a goal apiece for the Lady Bulldogs. Meantime, Francis also had a pair of assists.

“It’s hard,” Britton said of the late start. “We’re still just a growing program, and this was the first time we’ve played on a full field.”

Artesia coach Tim Trentham said having not played any pre-district contests was challenging for the Lady Rams to try to overcome.

“That’s tough to have to come in (to district play) right away,” he said. “I think the next time we see them, it’ll be a lot tougher game. But it was good to start off district with a win.”

Portales returned to action on Saturday with an 11 a.m. district clash at Lovington.

Artesia 4, Portales boys 2 — In a match pushed back from Tuesday to Wednesday, the host Bulldogs (3-0-1) broke away from a 1-1 halftime tie with three second-half tallies against the Rams (0-3-0) in the District 4-4A opener for both squads.

Clovis girls 5, Moriarty 0 — At Moriarty, junior midfielder Nevaeh Coronado and senior forward/midfielder Madison Lynch each scored a pair of goals as the Lady Wildcats (2-0-1) opened a 4-0 halftime lead and cruised to a non-district win on Thursday.

Lynch also had a pair of assists, and the Clovis defense prevented any shots on goal by the Lady Pintos (1-2-0).

CHS girls coach Traci Sievers said the Cats are ready to hit their District 4-5A schedule. They were to open the district slate on Saturday with a 3 p.m. match at rival Hobbs.

“I think we’ve gotten some people healthy, and we’ve got some depth right now,” she said. “Considering how things are going, I think we’re ready.”

Clovis boys 2, Moriarty 0 — The Wildcats dominated most of the way, but didn’t score until the 65th minute when senior defender Luis Macias found the net.

Freshman midfielder Drex Carter added an insurance tally several minutes later for the Cats (2-0-1), who opened district play against Hobbs on Saturday at Leon Williams Stadium.

“It was a dogfight,” CHS boys coach Greg Trujillo said. “We had possession most of the game. We just had a hard time putting it in the goal.”

While host Moriarty’s boys (1-1) also went the distance without a shot on goal, freshman keeper Isaac Dominguez kept them in contention with superior play in the net, Gallegos said. Clovis fired 12 shots on goal in the match.

“We peppered their goal quite a bit,” he said. “Their keeper was pretty good.”