On Tuesday evening, New Mexico Military Institute took a slight pause in district competition as they defeated Lovington High 3-0 to earn their second home win over the season. With the win, NMMI improves to 9-5 overall on a six-game win streak.
To open the contest the Colts came out pressuring the Lovington players anytime they had a second on the ball. Through this early pressure NMMI was able to force an early save by the Lovington goalkeeper.
A few minutes later, the Colts struck first as Lucas William Abreu Amorim fought off a defender and slipped a ball to Nicholas Barcenas Barbieri who was waiting at the back post and slid the ball past the reach of the Lovington keeper to give NMMI the initial 1-0 lead early in the first half.
As the first half continued the Colt defense controlled the pace and tempo, not allowing Lovington to create any type of rhythm or gain any momentum.
As the visiting team approached the NMMI goal, the defense held strong, clearing any opportunity that was presented to the Wildcats and keeping them scoreless through the first half.
Just like the first half, the Colts were the first to find rhythm as they applied the pressure attacking the Lovington backline and forcing numerous saves by the Wildcats goalkeeper. In those saves, the NMMI offense earned corners - which would be the story of the second half.
After earning a corner early on in the second half, the Colts wasted no time extending their lead as Daniel Dosmantes Urbina played a perfect ball into the penalty area to Pedro Dayrell Sousa who displayed excellent composure with the finish over the goalkeeper's head to give the Colts the controlling 2-0 lead.
As the half c went on, Lovington was able to string some passes together and get the NMMI defense back on its heels. As the Colts defended their goal, Rudulfo Anaya had a few big saves to keep a clean sheet with his six total saves on the evening, most of them coming in the second half of the contest.
As the Colts continued to control the momentum of the game, applying the final touch as they forced another save to set up a set-piece. As he had already done in the game, Dosmantes Urbina played a beautiful ball into the six-yard box and found the head of defender Javier Yepiz, who smashed the ball in the back of the net to secure the 3-0 win for the Colts.
NMMI will return to the pitch on Saturday, Oct. 12 as they make the trip to Hatch, NM to take on Hatch Valley at 2 p.m. to resume the second round of district games.