PHS notches 2 shutouts at West Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, N.M. – Suffice it to say, it was a pleasant bus ride home on Wednesday night for Portales High’s soccer teams.

Both squads posted shutout wins, the boys defeating West Las Vegas 2-0 while the girls notched a decisive 5-0 triumph.

Goals by senior forward Tony Cordova in the first half and senior forward/midfielder Gabriel Duran in the second were enough for the Rams (4-1) in the boys matchup. Senior defender Elijah Tellez had an assist on Cordova’s goal, while junior midfielder/defender Ediel Aniles assisted on the latter tally.

Portales played stout defense throughout.

“We played pretty well,” PHS boys coach Dustin Harden said. “We were sluggish in the beginning, but we got up to speed pretty quickly.”

Junior Ethan Najera earned the shutout against the Dons (1-4) with four saves in goal.

PHS has two matches on tap this week in an event being hosted by Alamogordo – facing the host Tigers at 5 p.m. on Thursday and returning on Saturday for an 11 a.m. contest against New Mexico Military.

Meantime, the Lady Rams (1-2) got on the board with their first win under new coach Laci Lozoya, rolling into halftime with a 3-0 lead and cruising from there.

Junior forward/midfielder Maria Lujan had a pair of tallies for PHS, both coming in the first half. Junior defender J’lynn Maestas had the other first-half goal, while freshman midfielder Abigail Nunez and sophomore midfielder Addyson Mayberry tallied in the second stanza.

With a comfortable lead over the Lady Dons (1-4), Lozoya was able to pretty much empty her bench during the match.

“We were able to get a lot of girls in there who haven’t played much this season,” she said. “I wanted to try some things to get us ready for our tournament this weekend.

“The girls worked the ball up the field well. A lot of our goals were from in close.”

PHS traveled to Hatch Valley for a tournament over the weekend, facing the host Lady Bears on Friday night and meeting Santa Teresa and Chaparral on Saturday.

This weekend, the Lady Rams will be in Alamogordo for a tournament on Friday and Saturday.