PHS boys win, girls earn tie in 2 OT tilts

SANTA FE – It was a long day for Portales High’s soccer squads on Saturday, but (mostly) a profitable one.

PHS went double overtime in both matches against host Academy for Technology & The Classics, the girls pulling out a 2-1 victory while the boys had to settle for a 2-2 tie.

Lady Rams sophomore J’Lynn Maestas scored the winning goal on a shot from about 40 yards out in early in the second OT.

Sophomore Maria Lujan got the game’s first tally, but ATC tied it shortly before halftime.

First-year PHS girls coach David Sweet is trying to change the mindset with the Lady Rams coming off two winless campaigns in the last three seasons. Their most recent winning campaign came in 2011 under Traci Sievers.

“I think the girls are starting to buy in,” Sweet said. “It’s really been a fun group to work with.”

The Portales boys, meantime, erased a pair of one-goal deficits to get the contest into overtime, where no one was able to break through.

“I’m proud of the boys,” first-year coach Dustin Harden said. “They worked hard today. I couldn’t ask them to work any harder.”

A goal by senior midfielder Elijah Tellez made it 1-1 at halftime, and junior forward/midfielder Anthony Cordova pulled the Rams even again in the second half, converting on a corner kick by junior Ever Espana.

Portales squads are slated to take on Hobbs junior varsity teams in their next outings on Saturday at the PHS pitch, beginning with the girls clash at 11 a.m.

Cats finish seventh in Los Alamos event – Clovis High’s boys bounced back from two losses on Friday to destroy Aztec 10-0 and salvage seventh place in an eight-team tournament at Los Alamos.

On the opening day, the Wildcats fell to Artesia 3-1 and to Santa Fe Capital 6-2.

Clovis (2-5) did all its scoring against Aztec (1-6) in the first half, ending the contest at halftime on the 10-goal lead rule. No statistics were available from that matchup.

In Friday’s quarterfinals, sophomore midfielder/defender Cutter Summens had a pair of goals and sophomore defender Moises Corza added another to lead Artesia (2-3-1), which led 2-0 at halftime. Junior midfielder Damien Perches had a pair of assists for the Bulldogs.

For the Cats, freshman midfielder Denym Lodge tallied the team’s only goal, coming on an assist from sophomore midfielder Julien Salinas.

Against Capital (3-1), freshman forward Damian Navarette and junior forward Ihab Mesbah scored goals, but Clovis fell behind 3-1 at halftime and was outscored by the same margin over the final 20 minutes.

The Cats were back in action on Tuesday night against New Mexico Military in Roswell. On Saturday, they host a 3 p.m. contest against Lovington at Leon Williams Stadium.