By Josh Franklin, The Roswell Daily Record — No. 14 seed Goddard suffered a 5-0 road loss to No. 3 seed Santa Teresa on Oct. 28. The defeat eliminated the Rockets in the first round of the NMAA boys’ 4A state soccer tournament.
The Warriors built a 2-0 halftime lead as the Rockets struggled to connect passes and generate scoring chances. Santa Teresa added three goals after the break, while Goddard couldn’t break through.
“We were not getting that many looks because we were not passing the ball good,” Goddard coach Noel Montelongo said. “Our passing wasn’t there. Our communication wasn’t there. We were just kind of running all over the place.”
Santa Teresa also won the teams’ Aug. 22 meeting, 3-1, but Montelongo said the Warriors used a different look than in the previous meeting.
“They came out strong,” Montelongo said. “They had a few different guys that didn’t come (on) when they saw us (at home), and they just had their stuff together.”
Goddard had chances to cut into the deficit in the second half, including a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but couldn’t convert.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t fall good for us. And then right after that, we just kind of went back to our normal days,” Montelongo said. “We weren’t communicating.”
Montelongo pointed to Santa Teresa’s third goal as the turning point.
“We held them off for about 20 minutes in the second half before they scored their third goal, and then after that we just got deflated,” Montelongo said.
The first-round exit ended Goddard’s season at 6-13-2. Santa Teresa improved to 15-3-3 and advanced to the second round.
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