Lady Rams cruise again

PORTALES - Rams girls soccer coach Ruben Tellez was able to put an exclamation point on his 46th birthday celebration on Tuesday, after his squad beat Ruidoso, 4-0. Portales scored late in the first half, after several missed opportunities, and from there, the rout was on.

"The past few days, their passing was better, their touches, their teamwork. Overall, just being in the right place at the right time - and not trying too hard to do something," Tellez explained.

"Like I told them before the game, I read an article from Coach (Kelley) Lee, 'You gotta be poised when you face adversity.' If not, it's gonna cause bad things to happen and you're gonna try too hard. I just try to tell them to relax and play the game, and whatever happens, happens. They gotta learn to slow the game down in their mind, just see the field and just play."

The Rams (3-3), who shut out West Las Vegas, 11-0, on Monday, finally found their groove in the 38th minute. After just barely missing on their previous six shots of the half, the seventh proved to be the Rams' lucky number.

Rebekah Christensen popped it up over two defenders in the open field to teammate Aida Gutierrez, who kicked it across her body to the left corner of the goal.

After carrying a 1-0 lead into the half, Portales didn't wait long to score on the Warriors (0-4), once again. Christensen popped another kick up in the 46th minute. This time, however, the rainbow kicked sailed over Ruidoso goalie Dominique Parker's head, and into the back of the net.

Micaela Garcia would soon follow with an identical goal, with the exception being that hers was a little further out.

"Before the game, we were even working on that shot," Tellez said. "We just told them to use the sun, and at halftime, we reminded them. We told them to just kick the ball and send it into the sun, kick it high - because the goalie will struggle.

"Sure enough, it worked twice. I'm glad they listened to that. But we took advantage of it in the second half. We were open a little bit and they executed."

A 65th-minute penalty kick by Jade Gallegos capped off the scoring. Portales had 14 shots on goal, to Ruidoso's five. For first-year Warriors head coach Alan Riches, the goal for his team right now is to get better conditioned with each passing match.

"Last week, we lost to Artesia, 10-0. But the first three games of the season were kinda just throwing them out there - just seeing what we have," Riches explained. "Now, we're trying to progress. Today, the goal was to get to half - we were about three minutes short. I told them that if we can get through the first 10 minutes of the second half, then we've progressed a little more."

Overall, Riches says he's trying to get the team ready for district play in October. His squad will face Portales again next week, and while he's not necessarily aiming for a win, Riches hopes that his Warriors can at least give 60 good minutes.

For Portales, it will travel to St. Mike's on Friday, followed by Pojoaque on Saturday. "If we can just play as a team, we have a good chance (against St. Mike's)," Tellez said. "They needed this. They work hard and they saw some of their hard work pay off (today)."