Lady Cats blank Goddard, stand 9-2

CLOVIS - One goal seemed to turn the tide for Clovis High's soccer girls on Thursday night.

Junior Aspen Ulibarri posted a hat trick and the Lady Wildcats pulled away for a 5-0 victory over Roswell Goddard at Leon Williams Stadium.

Ulibarri scored twice in the first half. Her second tally, coming just before halftime, made it 2-0 and the Lady Cats (9-2) were pretty much in control the rest of the way.

Moving in from the right side, Ulibarri was able to tuck her shot past Lady Rockets keeper Lily Bowles and into the left corner of the net.

"That's when the opportunities started coming for us," Lady Cats coach Ray Ramirez said. "We finally started connecting the way we needed."

CHS put seven shots on goal in the second half, compared to three in the first. Four of the Lady Cats' six corner kicks also came in the second stanza.

Ulibarri's final goal, about midway through the second half, came on a high floater from about 50 yards out that landed in front of a charging Bowles, bounding over her head into the net.

"I think we found out how we needed to play," said senior midfielder/defender Caley Adams, who added a goal and an assist. "We became more patient with our possessions."

Junior midfielder Courtney Bradley added the final goal late in the second half. Clovis keeper Aja Gonzales had four saves.

Adams said District 4-5A play down the line will be challenging, with Hobbs, Carlsbad and Roswell High all fielding competitive squads.

"It's going to be tough for us," she said. "Last year, Carlsbad was runnerup at state and the year before they won it. We're just going to have to be as ready as we can."

Clovis 6, Artesia 0 (Tuesday) - The Lady Cats, who beat Artesia 9-0 earlier on the road, cruised in this one as junior midfielder Courtney Bradley and sophomore forward/midfielder Ava Crain each notched a pair of goals.

Ramirez said the a weekend trip to play Las Cruces High and Organ Mountain had taken a toll.

"The girls were still kind of tired from the Las Cruces trip," he said. "We were just trying to play our possession game."

Clovis put 18 shots on goal against the Lady Bulldogs (4-6). Junior Aja Gonzales made eight saves en route to the shutout.

Boys tilt rescheduled - The CHS boys were also supposed to host Goddard on Thursday at the Yucca soccer complex, but that game was rescheduled to 6 p.m. on Sept. 19 at Leon Williams because officials weren't available.

On Tuesday, Cibola scored three first-half goals and went on to a 3-0 victory over the Wildcats in Albuquerque.

The teams played to a scoreless draw until junior midfielder Nolan Reed broke the ice for the Cougars (2-4) in the 25th minute. Junior midfielder Noah Padilla added a pair of tallies in the final five minutes of the half.

Cats coach Greg Trujillo said the Cats (3-5-1) came out flat. They played better in the second half, but couldn't cut into their deficit.

"It's the worst I've seen my team play this year," Trujllo said. "First of all, the field was so hot. We looked terrible in warmups, and we dug ourselves a big hole.

"We just came out not ready to play."

Senior Elias Ramirez made six saves in goal for Cibola, while senior D.J. Maldonado had four saves for the Cats.

Clovis was slated to host Artesia on Saturday at Leon Williams Stadium. The Cats' next outing is at 6:30 p.m. on Monday against Portales at Leon Williams Stadium.