PHS squads split with Lovington

Staff report

Portales High’s soccer squads took on first-year program Lovington in soccer on Monday at PHS and came away with a split.

The PHS boys lost to the Wildcats 3-1 while the Lady Rams posted a 2-0 shutout win.

Junior midfielder Gilbert Gomez staked the Lovington boys (4-7) to a 2-0 halftime lead with a pair of goals, and the Wildcats managed to blank the Rams (4-4-1) until the latter part of the second half.

Sophomore Misal Rocha converted for the Rams on an assist by senior Jose Barron with about five minutes left in the contest.

“Once they (Wildcats) scored, we started panicking a little and pushed the ball too hard trying to make too many things happen,” Rams coach Nathan Dodge said. “We kind of started playing their game.”

Senior Luis Villasenor stopped seven shots in goal for the Wildcats, while senior Lane Nichols made six saves for the Rams.

The Lady Rams improved to 6-4-1 for the season while keeping their Lovington counterparts winless at 0-11. No other information was available at press time.

The Rams return to action with a 6 p.m. match at Roswell High on Thursday. The next outing for the Lady Rams will be at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Artesia.