Portales boys improve to 4-0 on season

PORTALES — Win in a blowout, win in a nailbiter. As long as it starts with that word, Portales boys soccer coach Nathan Dodge said he's happy as long as the Rams get the job done.

It kept on going Tuesday, as the Rams found a way late for a 2-1 victory over Lovington at Portales High School.

The Rams have outscored their opponents 8-2 during their 4-0 start, but had troubles finding the net early Tuesday.

After a scoreless first half, Jose Morales scored on a cross from Diego Valenzuela four minutes into the second half.

Lovington got the equalizer on a Marin Garcia penalty kick in the 63rd minute, but sophomore Jesus Chavez scored the game-winner just five minutes later.

"It's odd," Dodge said. "I feel like we had more opportuniites in the first half, but we happened to score on what we got in the second half."

The Rams outshot the Wildcats 8-4 on the afternoon.

Dodge said Brian Tinajero was solid in the net with three saves, and has been pretty much good the entire season.

"Soccer is really all he plays," Dodge said. "For being a sophomore, he's done great."

Portales is back in action Saturday, when it travels to Artesia for a 3 p.m. matchup with the Bulldogs.

The Portales girls also had a tale of two halves, but it didn't turn out quite as well.

Angie Martinez registered a natural hat trick, scoring the first three goals of the game. But host Lovington found a way to steal the game 4-3 with four goals in an 11-minute stretch for the win.

Coach Ruben Tellez said he was proud of the players' efforts, but admitted it's never easy to lose a game in that fashion.

We just fell apart. I told the girls yesterday at practice to bend but don't break. We broke a bit. We got winded and they pushed a little harder."

The Portales girls host Artesia at 3 p.m. on Saturday.