By Don Eskins
Carlsbad High’s Cavemen soccer team, in their 2024 season inaugurals with the Las Cruces Mayfield Trojans and Centennial Hawks, recorded a split. Both games took place in Carlsbad on Friday and Saturday, August 23-24,
Down 0-1 at the half, Carlsbad High rallied for two scores during the final period of play to defeat Mayfield 2-1 on Friday. However, on Saturday, Centennial proved to be a bit too much for CHS, as they upended the Cavemen 7-1.
This weekend, Friday and Saturday, Aug. 30-31, Carlsbad will compete in the Las Cruces Invitational. They’ll open play in the two-day tournament on Friday against the Santa Teresa Desert Warriors.
Following a 3-2 win over Goddard and a 1-0 victory over Hobbs, the Warriors will enter the game at 2-0. Game time is set for 2 p.m.
Mayfield 1, Cavemen 2
On Friday, Carlsbad traded punches with the Mayfield Trojans during the first half of play. However, as tough as they fought, they took the mid-way break, trailing the Trojans 0-1.
“We controlled the game pretty much throughout the first half; we just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net,” said Caveman head coach Mario Fierro, Jr. “But there’s no quit in our guys, regardless of the score. They picked up the tempo and played more aggressively during the final period to get the 2-1 come-from-behind win.”
CHS battled Mayfield throughout the first 20-plus minutes of the second half but still couldn’t score. However, the Cavemen’s luck soon changed as sophomore Bailey King, on a corner kick from Angel Baeza, scored to tie the game up at 1-1.
“Our kids worked incredibly hard to get that first goal,” said the Caveman coach. “However, King’s goal didn’t just even the game up at 1-1; it inspired everybody on our team to play even harder.”
That was especially true for Edwin Minjares. Minjares, on an assist from freshman Parker Hamill, scored from 30 yards out to give CHS a 2-1 lead, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“We couldn’t have been more proud of these kids,” said Fierro. “They just kept coming at Mayfield until they got it done. That’s something we can build on.”
Centennial 7, Cavemen 1
The Centennial Hawks, heavily favored, out-dueled CHS on Saturday, Aug. 24. Up 6-0 at the half, the Hawks held on for a 7-1 win.
Scoring CHS’s lone second-half goal was senior Jhovany Juarez, last year’s scoring leader, on an assist from Angel Baeza.
“I don’t feel like we were as prepared for Centennial as we could have been, so that’s on me. But we made some adjustments during the half-time break and came out to play much better during the second period,” said coach Fierro. “We played them even, 1-1, during the final 40 minutes, but the damage had already been done.”
“All in all, though, we saw a lot of good things from our kids in our matches with Mayfield and Centennial,” he said. “We still have a long season ahead of us, though, and a long way to go. But, judging from the efforts we saw from our kids this weekend, our staff is very encouraged about our possibilities this year. Hopefully, by the time district play rolls around, we’ll be peaking out.”
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