Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Clovis sophomore Aspen Ulibarri scores a goal in the Wildcats' 10-0 win over Lovington.
By Dave Wagner
STAFF WRITER
CLOVIS - It didn't take long for Clovis High's soccer girls to take control of a young Lovington squad on Monday night at Leon Williams Stadium.
Three goals inside the first 10 minutes set the tone, and the Lady Cats improved to 3-1 with a 10-0 shutout victory.
Junior midfielder Reece Harmon scored with just over seven minutes left to end it on the 10-goal-lead mercy rule. The Lady Cats were coming off a third-place finish in a season-opening tourney at Roswell over the weekend.
First-year coach Ray Rodriguez said the addition of Harmon, sophomore defender Giselle Romero and sophomore midfielder Aspen Ulibarri made a difference. All three missed the Roswell tourney due to contact tracing.
"The girls moved the ball good tonight," Rodriguez said. "It was a good all-around team effort. We're really off to a good start."
Uilbarri and senior forward Nevaeh Coronado each had a hat trick for Clovis, while senior midfielder Illeana Griego added two goals and junior forward/midfielder Caley Adams one. The Lady Cats outshot Lovington 21-0 on goal and had an 8-0 advantage in corner kicks.
For Lovington (0-4), which also played in the Roswell tourney, it was a third loss by 10-0 so far. Coach Vito Monteblanco said two of his top seniors missed Monday's match because of concussion protocols.
"We've got a young team," Monteblanco said. "Once our seniors get healthy, things will get better. We've got some freshmen who've never played before."
Clovis is slated to have two more matches at home this week. The Lady Cats welcome Artesia in a 6 p.m. contest slated for Yucca Middle School on Thursday, then return to the stadium on Saturday to face Socorro in a 2 p.m. start.
Lady Cats third, PHS seventh in Roswell tourney - Originally scheduled to play in a tournament at Taos, the Lady Cats instead replaced Roswell Goddard, which was quarantining, in the Roswell meet. They shut out Alamogordo 1-0 in Friday's quarterfinals before losing on Saturday morning to Centennial 3-0 in the semifinal round.
They then rallied for three second-half goals to knock off Mayfield 3-2 for third place.
"It was a good weekend for us, considering we were down two starters and two subs (due to contact tracing)," Rodriguez said. "The good thing is we got to play."
Meantime, Portales High and District 4-4A rival Lovington battled to a 3-3 tie through regulation and one overtime before the Lady Rams posted a 4-3 edge in penalty kicks to take the seventh-place match. Earlier, they lost to Roswell High 12-2 in Friday's quarterfinals and to district rival Artesia 5-0 in the consolation semifinals.
Senior midfielder Luisa Chavez scored the first and last goal for the Lady Cats against Mayfield, the latter coming on a direct penalty kick with about 19 minutes left. Freshman forward/midfielder Natalie Griego had the other goal on an assist from freshman Ava Crain.
On Friday against Alamo, Chavez scored the match's only goal in the 68th minute on an assist from junior Caley Adams.
"We had a lot of opportunities to put that game away," Rodriguez said.
Sophomore Aja Gonzales earned the shutout in goal with a pair of saves.
The Lady Cats couldn't break through in Saturday's semifinals against Centennial, which went on to beat Roswell High in the finals. The Hawks led 1-0 at halftime and added a pair of tallies in the final 40 minutes.
Portales, which managed only one goal during an 0-6 spring season, outdid that total in the quarterfinals against Roswell High, although the Lady Rams trailed the Lady Coyotes 9-2 at the break. Roswell High ended the match relatively early in the second stanza on the 10-goal-lead rule.
PHS goals were scored by senior forward/midfielder Kealey Horner and junior Adeli Hernandez.
In the consolation bracket, Portales played competitively against Artesia, then managed to pull out the win against Lovington on PKs.
"The tournament gave us an opportunity to bond as a team," PHS coach Bonnie Britton said. "Artesia's pretty tough; they beat us up a little bit. But I think the win (against Lovington) was a real confidence-booster.
Goals by junior Jolie Griffith and Hernandez staked the Lady Rams to a 2-1 halftime lead against Lovington, and Hernandez added her fourth goal of the weekend in the second half.
In boys action on Saturday afternoon, New Mexico Military defeated PHS 5-0 at Greyhound Stadium.
Both Portales squads will be in action at Greyhound Stadium on Wednesday against West Las Vegas, with the girls match kicking off the twin bill at 3 p.m.
