NMMI Sports Press

The Colt Varsity Soccer team (3-5) dropped its fourth game in a row Tuesday afternoon, falling 3-1 against the Rockets (9-3), the second-ranked team in Class 4A, at Goddard High School in Roswell.

NMMI avoided going two consecutive matches without a goal when late in the second half freshman Antonio Arizpe worked his way past three Rockets and scored.

“Antonio is a good kid with a lot of fight in him,” said Colts head coach John Barbour. “He just fought and took the ball from the defender, then beat another guy, juked the goalkeeper and put it in the open net. It was a great finish.”

Barbour expects big things from Arizpe, but realizes he’s young and still figuring out how to find open shots.

“It’s a lot to ask when he’s playing with junior and seniors,” Barbour said. “He has to pick his moments and take advantage when they come, and he did that today so it was great.”

Barbour said his younger players could get more time on the field as he searches for a winning combination.

“Last year’s team was chock full of seniors. We had a ton of leadership that wasn’t going to put up with players not giving everything on the field for each other,” he said. “We’re young and there’s always growing pains with a young team.”

Junior goalkeeper Carlos Corona allowed three goals, but made plenty of saves to keep his team in the game.

“He’s doing great and he’s working a lot,” Barbour said. “Unfortunately, he’s having to work harder than he should. I feel like we had closer games and lower scoring games at the beginning of the season. It feels like we’re trying to score so much that we’re almost opening things up at the back, so we’re going to have to tighten that down a little bit more.”

Next up for the Colts is a trip to Portales to take on the Rams (2-3) at 3 p.m. Saturday.