NMMI Sports Press
The Colt Varsity Soccer team picked up another crucial victory Tuesday on Stapp Parade Field, blanking the Ruidoso Warriors 4-0 to move to 4-1 in District 3/4-A/3A.
“The team is gelling a little bit and we’re finally getting some great finishes,” said NMMI head coach John Barbour. “Great connections and they’re really playing for each other, instead of just individually. It was a lot of fun to watch. We had some great combination play. And a clean sheet to tack on to the end, so very happy today.”
Sophomore Mason Hicks scored twice, with 22 minutes left in the first half off an assist by junior Santiago Perez, and again at the 30 minute mark of the second half.
With about 19 minutes left in the game, junior David Portugal scored off a Hicks assist and with about five minutes left in the contest, freshman Antonio Arizpe scored off a long pass from Perez.
“The 1-2 with Portugal and Hicks was just fun to watch,” Barbour said. “Those are the things we’ve been working on in practice. And they are bringing it into games, which as a coach, that’s what you want to see. My hat goes off to them, they all played great.”
Besides Hicks and Arizpe, the Colts have another underclassman playing a big role in sophomore goalkeeper Nicolas Barcenas, who kept the Warriors out of his net. In five district games, the Colts have allowed just three goals, two coming in a 2-0 loss at Hatch Valley, the undefeated district leader.
“It’s all about development,” Barbour said. “When you have the young guys out there, we know we’re developing teams for the years to come, and so it’s great to see them progressing well and getting better with each game.”
As with any high school team, players are lost for many reasons and adjustments have to be made.
“The defense played great. We struggled with losing some players and so we’ve had to change some things around,” said Barbour. “So this back line was a little makeshift, but we have a few more games to go with it and hopefully have it all tightened up by the time we hit Hatch again.”
There are three games left on the regular-season slate for NMMI. A Saturday trip to Hot Springs and a Tuesday home match against Socorro must be taken care of before facing Hatch Valley on Stapp Parade Field at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22.
“We can’t overlook anybody, you have to take it one game at a time,” said Barbour. “But with that said, Hatch has a good team. They do have a tendency to show up some games, some days they don’t. We’re just going to try to get to our best soccer by the time we face them, but first we have to take care of two teams that will be chomping at the bit to face us again.”
As of press time, there was no score from the Hatch Valley-Socorro game, but assuming Hatch won and sits at 6-0 in the district, NMMI will need to win out to have a chance to win the district and get an automatic bid to the state playoffs.