Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Staff photo: Matthew Asher Portales junior Julian Tellez goes for a header against Artesia during the second half of Saturday’s game. Tellez didn’t convert on the corner kick attempt, but Portales won 3-0.
STAFF WRITER
What a difference a year has made for the Portales soccer program.
Last year the Rams were 0-5 after five games, having been outscored 28-4 and were shut out three times. Following Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Artesia, the Rams are now a perfect 5-0 outscoring their opponents 26-2 with three clean sheet victories of their own.
Senior Junior Salomon got the Rams started with his first goal coming in the 22nd minute to give Portales a 1-0 lead it would take into halftime. Salomon would get his second goal of the game in the 55th minute, allowing Portales to keep pressuring Artesia (1-4-1), never allowing the Bulldogs to get comfortable on the pitch.
“Junior’s playing really well,” Portales coach Nathan Dodge said. “He’s leading the team the right way.”
Staff photo: Matthew Asher
Portales junior Julian Tellez goes for a header against Artesia during the second half of Saturday’s game. Tellez didn’t convert on the corner kick attempt, but Portales won 3-0.
Salomon wasn’t the only Ram to get on the scoring sheet. In the 69th minute, Pedro Perea, another Portales senior, stole the ball at midfield and raced down for a scoring opportunity. The Rams passed the ball near the goal and Perea was in the right place to score the nail-in-the-coffin goal.
“We found our rhythm quick in the game and didn’t lose it,” Salomon said. “We pressured the defense and moved the ball well.”
So what’s the reason for this huge turnaround for the Rams?
“We have eight seniors and a lot of experience,” Dodge said. “A lot of these guys have played for us all four years. These guys play all the time. They hardly play anything else so this is what they look forward to. At lunch they play and when they aren’t practicing, they’ll still play. They’re doing a great job of playing together. They’ve also done a great job of possessing the ball, playing together and playing unselfish.”
Portales had the advantage in every statistical category —they out-shot Artesia 11-1 and had a 7-1 advantage in corner kicks.
In Artesia, the Lady Rams (5-4) weren’t as lucky as their male counterparts as Portales went into halftime against the Lady Bulldogs trailing 3-2, but fell apart in the second half, losing 11-2. Portales had already played Artesia (5-2) to start the season but also came away with a 5-1 loss.
“We struggled a little bit like last game,” Portales coach Ruben Tellez said. “We had some meltdowns. We scored to go up 2-1 and then once again 10 seconds later we break down and let (Artesia) score at will. Our defense needs to know how to communicate and quit stabbing at the ball.”
The Rams travel to Clovis to face the Wildcats Tuesday with a 5 p.m.. start while the Lady Rams will face the Lady Cats in Clovis Thursday with a 6 p.m. start.
