Portales soccer swept at Ruidoso

The Portales boys and girls soccer teams traveled into the mountains Tuesday afternoon to play the Ruidoso varsity, and both the Rams and Lady Rams exited with a 10-0 loss.

Both games were cut short, and Ruidoso led both games 8-0 at the half.

“We played pretty well,” Ram assistant Scott Parker said. “We battled with them and they kind of counter-attacked on our mistakes.”

Head coach Traci Sievers pointed out that the Lady Rams defense pulled together late in the game.

“We held them off from scoring the last two goals until six minutes left in the game,” Sievers said.

Portales will host Ruidoso later this fall.

“Our girls know we have to play them again, so they know they can get better by playing teams at that level,” Sievers said. “I think that will be good. Especially when we have them at our place. It’s always a different atmosphere when it’s at home and after a three-hour bus ride, it’s always hard to get out and get things going right away.”

During the Rams’ loss, Parker said his boys may scored some own goals, and didn’t play well in set pieces.

“We didn’t do very well (defending) on corner kicks,” Parker said. “They scored on a couple of headers.”

“They definitely played better in the second half,” Sievers said. “And they’re starting to get to where they can make some adjustments.”

The Rams and Lady Rams travel to Socorro Saturday, before heading to Clovis Tuesday.

“We’ve just got to keep plugging,” Parker said. “That’s going to happen from time to time.”