By Josh Franklin
Months of work have finally paid off for Roswell High School’s soccer programs, as the boys and girls varsity teams claimed their respective district championships.
“I can’t put it into words. It’s a lot of hard work since the preseason, just to get here and give ourselves an opportunity,” boys head coach Robert Madrid said. “We win the district, and we put ourselves in a good position heading into the state tournament.”
The Coyotes (18-1-1, 5-0-1) clinched their district title in their second-to-last regular-season game with a 3-0 win over Hobbs (15-2-3, 3-1-2) on Oct. 17. For the girls, it came down to the wire: They needed a win or draw against Carlsbad to secure theirs.
“We knew what was at stake, and we’ve been talking about it since Oct. 17 when we played Hobbs and won over there,” girls head coach Urbano Sosa said. “I told the girls that it didn’t matter if we won by one, five or a tie; it didn’t matter. We just needed to come out with either kind of outcome.”
The Lady Coyotes (12-5-3, 5-0-1) dominated the Cavegirls (2-15-3, 0-4-2) 4-0 on Oct. 20 to clinch the title in front of their home crowd. Cheers filled the Cielo Grande Sports Complex moments after the final whistle sounded.
Madrid’s team claimed its second district title in three years, while Sosa’s squad earned its first District 4-5A championship.
“I think we’ve been in this district … 10-11 years, somewhere in there, between 10 and 12 years,” Sosa said. “When we first got in, we were getting annihilated. … We just weren’t ready for that jump, and it’s taken a long time to get where we’re at.”
Now, both teams turn their attention to the state tournament. Madrid’s group is in contention to host a first-round game, while Sosa’s squad hopes it has done enough to secure a home game of its own.
“It’s more than just a district championship on the line. I feel (Hobbs was) the number two ranked team in the state,” Madrid said. “Our records are pretty similar, so I feel like maybe they switch us ahead of them, and we go into the state tournament as a number two seed.”
As of Oct. 22, the Coyotes rank No. 2 in 5A and the state rankings, according to MaxPreps, while the Lady Coyotes are No. 13 in Class 5A.
“I thought that before that all district champs got a home game, but they don’t,” Sosa said about his team’s standing. “We’ve gone from 12 playoff teams to 16. … It’s gonna be a lot harder for us … to go from a 13, where we’re currently at, to go down up five (spots).”
Regardless of their playoff seedings, both teams will support each other throughout the postseason.
“Both programs are very supportive of each other. We’d be playing, and the boys if they were not playing, they were always at the games here at home, and vice versa. So I think both programs have been very supportive of each other,” Sosa said. “Coach Madrid and myself are are very supportive of one another, and we talk and we go over things. … I think it helped out quite a bit.”
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