Peter Dindinger — NMMI Sports Press

No matter the challenge, the New Mexico Military Institute Colt soccer team has risen to the occasion.

For the ninth time this season, NMMI took on a school from a bigger classification.

On Thursday night, the Colts defeated the Goddard Rockets 5-1 at Stapp Parade Field.

The Colts are 5-0-1 in their last six games.

“Very proud of the way they finished the game. We should’ve capitalized a lot more on our opportunities,” said NMMI head coach John Barbour. “That’s the game. You have to find your goals, you have to finish. We got to do better there.”

NMMI’s John Zimmerman got his team on the board after finishing a one-on-one opportunity from nearly five yards out.

Minutes later, he found the back of the net once more to give the Colts a 2-0 lead at the half.

The Rockets (6-5) then cut the deficit to one on a goal by Victor Diaz early in the second half.

Jose Andres Perez Sirgo gave the Colts some insurance later on by notching the hat trick.

NMMI (6-2-1) had 20 shots on goal while recording five assists.

Juan Ortiz, Ben Zimmerman and Fernando Garcia each had one assist apiece while Jose Donnadieu tallied two assists.

NMMI hosts Portales at 3 p.m. Saturday to wrap up the four-game home stand. The Colts travel to Ruidoso for a 6 p.m. match on Tuesday, Sept. 21 before jumping right into district play hosting Socorro on Oct. 5.

The Colts are currently ranked No. 1 in Class A/3A on MaxPreps. Despite having a lot of early success, coach Barbour and company are focused on the task at hand which is improving and paying attention to the details.

“We still got our work to do. We need to win our games. As long as we can handle our business and not leave any games behind then I think at least we’ve done our part,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure that we’re doing our duties and are goal-hungry.”