With the score still 0-0 at the half Saturday at the Mack Chase Athletic Complex, the Lady Bulldog soccer team was in the middle of the sort of hotly-contested bout they’d anticipated against Roswell High.
But just over one minute into the second half, disaster struck when the Lady Coyotes were able to tap the ball over the line out of a corner-kick-induced pileup in front of the net.
The goal had a visible effect on the Lady ‘Dogs, who managed just one offensive opportunity of their own for the remainder of the contest and would surrender another goal before game’s end for a 2-0 loss.
“The first half was pretty even back and forth,” head coach Tim Trentham said Saturday. “We had some pretty good opportunities, they had some good opportunities, and nobody was able to capitalize. Then we gave up that corner, and that was pretty much it after that.
“We just didn’t bounce back from it. We tried to hang with them, but you could tell our intensity level just fell off.”
It was a frustrating turn of events for a Lady Bulldog team that had matched the Coyotes shot for shot in the opening 40 minutes, gaining solid looks both midway through and late in the half on free kicks.
Artesia backed off and struggled to maintain possession following Roswell’s quick goal, and with 19:55 to go in the game, the Lady Coyotes got another easy one on a ball not cleared from the front of the net.
“That’s just where we’ve been sitting,” Trentham said. “Plagued with injuries, and we haven’t been as big of an offensive threat as we were in the first part of the season, which was just frustrating for everybody. It’s hard when you get in a slump like this. To try to get out of it is tough.”
The loss drops the Lady Bulldogs to 8-8-1 on the year, 1-4-1 in district play, but does not leave them out of the running for a spot in the Class 5A state bracket. Should Artesia’s name be called during this morning’s seeding and selection, it would be the first time the Lady ‘Dogs have made the playoffs since 2006.
“We hold tiebreakers with everybody down the line,” said Trentham. “Grants has a lower strength of schedule and they played Capital and only beat them 2-1 and 1-0, where we beat them 7-0. We got third in district, they got third in district. They went 1-7 in district, we went 1-4.
“After that, Belen and Del Norte both lost to Valencia, who we beat 3-0, and Kirtland Central has a weaker strength of schedule. So it should be there for us. And if we do make it, my guess is we’re either going to Los Alamos or Farmington. But we just have to wait and see.”
