Rams seek another upset

Brian Kirchner is celebrating the birth of his first child. Now the Portales boys soccer coach is hoping to hoist a state championship trophy this weekend.

Portales, last year's 1A-3A state runnerup, will try to post its second upset of the tournament when the Rams (11-8) take on second-seeded Hope Christian (14-5) in a 6 p.m. quarterfinal match today at the APS soccer complex in Albuquerque.

Joshua Lucero: PNT correspondent

Rams junior forward Brandon Gomez moves past Monte Del Sol during their district matchup on Oct. 27 in Portales. Gomez leads the team with 22 goals as the Rams prepare to face Hope Christian in a Class 1A-3A state boys quarterfinal match today in Albuquerque.

Kirchner missed practice on Monday and Tuesday while he and wife Lynda welcomed a son, Easton Carter.

"It was difficult to leave the little one, the family," Kirchner said. "But we want to finish the season strong."

The 10th-seeded Rams avenged a pair of 4-0 regular-season losses to New Mexico Military by outlasting the seventh-seeded Colts 2-1 on Saturday in Roswell. With eight seniors on the roster, most of whom played for last year's state finalist, the Rams are hoping to draw on their state experience.

"We're expecting it to be kind of a lot like it was last year up there — a very quick, athletic team, with good ball possession and a lot of ball movement," Kirchner said of the Huskies, who as a top-four seed had a first-round bye.

It will be the teams' first meeting, said Kirchner, who added the Rams are more concerned about preparing themselves for the possible rigors of three matches in three days than worrying about the opponent.

Portales may be peaking at the right time, having won seven of its last nine matches.

"Our focus hasn't been on who we're playing too much," he said. "Nobody's going to be able to do it 1-on-1. We've been working a lot on communication, on playing with each other."