Jason Farmer
Hobbs News-Sun

HOBBS – Playing its third straight road game to start the season, the Artesia Lady Bulldogs suffered their first loss Tuesday after being blanked 2-0 to the Hobbs Lady Eagles at Watson Memorial Stadium in Hobbs.

Tuesday night, as the Lady Eagles went into their game, their coach said the team had two goals for the game.

“We had two goals for this game, score first and win every ball,” Lady Eagles soccer coach Makenzie Telles said. “We scored first and we won the majority of the balls this game. I think that was the change from last season. I remember not winning the balls like we should have last year.”

“Tonight when we were talking (before the game), we had the mindset that we were going to go out there and win the game,” Hobbs senior Brianna Baker added. “Last year we didn’t really have a mindset like that, but this year we are back and we are stronger. We did everything we could to win as a team.”

The Lady Eagles took control of the game fairly quick, but after putting two balls in the back of the net early, they didn’t score again.

Baker scored Hobbs’ first goal with 38:34 left on the clock off an assist from Brooke Davis. Ten and a half minutes later, Baker scored again, this time when she got the ball off of an Artesia defender.

“It felt great,” the Hobbs senior said of scoring. “It felt good to be back and get a little back on Artesia.”

The Lady Eagles’ coach loves what Baker brings to the field for the team.

“She is going to be a playmaker for us,” Telles said of Baker. “She is a playmaker and she is a goal scorer and we are looking for her to do big things this year. We have a lot of youth that is going to help her do (big things), but she is going to get the job done this season.”

Despite having four corner kicks, the Lady Eagles were unable to capitalize on any of them in the first half.

The Lady Eagles had other opportunities to score in the first half, taking five shots on goal, but went into the break leading 2-0.

“I feel like we got a little tired,” Baker said. “It felt like we got to where we were playing more kickball instead of possessing. We didn’t really take as many shots as we could have.”

While Lady Eagles’ goalkeeper Sabrina Marquez picked up the win and the shutout, the junior did not really factor into the game as the Lady Bulldogs never registered a shot on goal.

“My defense passed the ball back to (Marquez) and it looked really good,” Telles said.

“I think that gave her a little bit more confidence. She was pretty excited to beat Artesia. She is from Lovington originally and this was her first time beating Artesia.”

Artesia falls to 2-1 with the loss. The Lady Bulldogs will now travel to Las Cruces for a game against the Mayfield Lady Trojans on Friday at 4 p.m.