Balanced scoring propels Clovis girls again

TAOS — It took the opposition four games to notch a goal against the Clovis High girls soccer team. It took the Wildcats just one minute to negate it.

Madison Lynch scored her third goal of the season to give Clovis a 3-1 lead after Bosque’s Aviva Elliott broke the Wildcat shutout streak, and three other players found the net in a 4-1 victory over Bosque to close out the Taos Tournament.

Annie Stone and Danielle Griego each had a pair of assists for Clovis (4-0), which will head into Thursday’s game at Artesia with plenty of momentum and plenty of balance.

Lynch, who netted 16 goals for Clovis last year, is up to three so far. But teammates Kelsey Kendall and Neveah Coronado, who each had a tally Saturday, have already posted five goals each.

“It’s been huge,” Clovis coach Traci Sievers said. “Coming out of last year, Madison was by far our leading scorer. Along with Danielle (Griego), there wasn’t anybody close to them. Teams are keying on them some, and it’s made it easier to spread things out. We’ve had some of the older girls step up. It’s been a fun team to coach.”

Six different players have notched goals for Clovis so far, with two from Griego, a Saturday tally from Alisha Manery and Luisa Chavez’ goal Friday night against Kirtland Central. Additionally, nine players have assists, and six of them have two or more. Lynch leads Clovis in that category with four.

Clovis needed just three minutes for Kendall to get Clovis on the board, and went up 2-0 on Manery’s 12th-minute tally. Elliott scored to get Bosque (1-1) out of goose-egg territory in the 30th minute, but Lynch scored in the 31st off assists by Coronado and Kendall.

“As soon as that happened, we were like, ‘We need to get it back, we need to get it back,’” Sievers said. “A two-goal lead would be better going into the half because there was weather moving in and there would be less pressure on us.”

The weather cooperated in the second half, and Coronado added the final tally in the 55th minute.