Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
ROSWELL – Clovis High’s girls reached Saturday’s finals of an eight-team tournament co-hosted by Roswell High and Roswell Goddard, losing to Las Cruces High 8-0 in the championship match.
The Lady Wildcats opened the tournament on Friday with a 1-1 tie against Las Cruces-based Organ Mountain, topping the Knights 4-3 on penalty kicks to advance, and then blanked Roswell High 2-0 in Saturday’s semifinal round.
CHS girls coach Ray Rodriguez said his squad had a tough time getting untracked.
“We started off the tournament a little slow,” he said. “We were sluggish, but we managed to win the first two games.”
Cruces (3-0), which outscored its three tourney opponents 28-0, opened a 3-0 lead on Clovis at halftime before pulling away. Sophomore Rayene Carrillo accounted for five goals for the Lady Bulldawgs, while junior Mia Barela had the other three.
Against Organ Mountain, senior Aspen Ulibarri put the Lady Cats up with a first-half goal, but the Knights (2-0-1) – who won their other tourney matches by 4-0 counts – tied it in the second half. After two scoreless overtimes, the Lady Cats got PK goals from Ulibarri, senior Courtney Bradley and juniors Ava Crain and Natalie Griego.
Senior Aja Gonzales made eight saves in goal for Clovis.
Ulibarri scored in the first half and Griego added one in the second stanza against Roswell High (1-3). Gonzales collected four saves against the Lady Coyotes.
Clovis was slated to host Lovington on Tuesday night. The Lady Cats travel to Las Cruces this weekend to face Organ Mountain on Friday and Cruces on Saturday.
Lovington 2, Clovis 1 (boys, Saturday) – Sophomore Matthew Contreras scored a pair of goals in the final nine minutes to give host and defending Class 4A state champion Lovington (2-0) the victory.
Junior Ihab Mesbah tallied for the Wildcats (0-3) in the 10th minute of the match, and that margin held up until late.
“Realistically, we should’ve won the game,” CHS boys coach Greg Trujillo. “We just couldn’t hold it together. We had chances to put them away.”
Mesbah has scored all five Cats goals so far this season. Junior Angel Avila had six saves in net for Clovis.
The Cats were slated to visit Portales on Tuesday. On Friday, they face Artesia in the opening round of an eight-team weekend tournament at Los Alamos.
Lady Rams fall, Rams match postponed – Rain and lightning cut short Portales High’s scheduled boys and girls doubleheader at Ruidoso on Saturday. The host Lady Warriors posted a 5-0 victory over PHS (1-1), with that contest called off about midway through the second half, while the boys’ tilt was postponed and may be rescheduled.
Eighth-grader Evelyn Medrano posted a hat trick for Ruidoso, playing its season opener, while junior Bayler Pritchett and eighth-grader Natalie Ramirez added a goal apiece. The Lady Warriors led 4-0 at halftime.
Both PHS squads are slated to return to action on Saturday, with 1 (girls) and 3 p.m. (boys) clashes against Academy for Technology & The Classics at Santa Fe.
