Lady Cats win, but lose tiebreaker

ROSWELL — Clovis High’s girls laid claim to the District 4-5A title on Thursday with a 2-0 win over Roswell High, but the Lady Wildcats came up short in their ultimate goal.

Hobbs (9-9-2, 5-1 district) earned the top spot for Class 5A state playoff purposes with a 6-2 victory over Carlsbad. That gave the Lady Eagles a plus-8 scoring margin (19-11) in district matches, compared with plus-7 (11-4) for the Lady Cats (16-4-0, 5-1).

While Hobbs is assured of a berth in this year’s 12-team Class 5A state event despite being ranked 16th by MaxPreps, the ninth-ranked Lady Cats will have to wait until the New Mexico Activities Association announces its selections later today in Albuquerque.

With their record, it would appear they should be safely in. Still, you never know.

The match was scoreless until about 15 minutes into the second half when junior midfielder Aspen Ulibarri pushed down from midfield and beat the Lady Coyotes’ keeper. Senior forward/midfielder Caley Adams added an insurance tally about 10 minutes later.

“We hit the crossbar two times and the sidebar once,” Lady Cats coach Ray Rodriguez said. “But we got the ‘W’ and that gives us a chance.”

Junior goalkeeper Aja Gonzales turned away seven shots from Roswell High to register the shutout.

“The first half we had some good chances,” Rodriguez said. “The second half, the girls picked up the intensity and had Roswell on their heels, for the most part.”

Boys soccer — At Leon Williams Stadium, Roswell High sophomore Ferrel Garcia managed to flick a shot into the net nearly midway through the second half and the Coyotes held on for a 1-0 District 4-5A win over the Wildcats on Tuesday night.

The Cats (4-13-2, 0-5-1 district) posted a 5-2 margin in shots on goal and a 5-1 edge in corner kicks, but they couldn’t keep the Coyotes (3-15-2, 2-3-1) from posting their second 1-0 triumph over CHS this fall. Roswell High’s only other victory came at Las Cruces (2-0 on Sept. 15).

Even after the Coyotes scored, Cats coach Greg Trujillo said he thought his team would be able to come back.

“I really didn’t feel too bad because we were dominating the match,” he said. “(But) when you miss some (good shots at goals), it’s just not meant to be.”

CHS was to wrap up its campaign with a non-district tilt on Saturday at Lovington.

Volleyball — At Roswell, the Lady Wildcats struggled almost from the get-go on Tuesday night in absorbing a 25-11, 25-21, 25-18 District 4-5A loss at the hands of Roswell High (10-10, 1-2).

“In the first game, we didn’t pass well enough,” CHS coach Darrel Ray said. “They served well; Roswell was ready to go tonight.

“The next two games we made it closer, but we weren’t efficient enough. We got beat a lot in the middle and a lot on tips.”

Junior middle hitter Kailyn Jefferson had 12 kills for Clovis (10-10, 1-2). After one time through the 4-5A slate, all four teams are either 2-1 or 1-2 in district play and range from 11-9 to 8-11 overall.

The Lady Cats are on the road this week for matches at Carlsbad on Tuesday night and Hobbs on Thursday.