Socorro Warriors soccer stronger in rematch with NMMI

The Socorro Warriors soccer team hosted the New Mexico Military Institute Colts for the second district match between the two teams this season. The first match in Roswell back on Sept. 23 was dominated by the Colts, as they won 7-0. The NMMI team leads the district with a 6-0 record, so the Warriors knew they needed to make some changes and be prepared for a tough game.

“NMMI comes in here, of course, leading our district as usual. So, we wanted to play more defensively, so we set up in a defensive formation in the first half. First half, we had a lot of our defense not understand that they had to play the player after the pass, so they beat us quite a few times, but our defense was able to recover.” Head Coach Fred Berger said.

At halftime the Warriors were only down 1-0. The only score was unfortunately an own goal that went the wrong way as a Socorro defender tried to clear the ball.

“We made the adjustment at halftime to come back, and I changed the adjustment just a little bit in the middle so that we had four defenders, three mids, and then one would be almost like a stopper. So, it was a good adjustment. They adjusted to the one two passes, which was perfect. Frustrated NMMI all day long. So, we did really good. I’m really, really proud of all these kids.” Berger said.

The adjustments worked, and the Warriors kept the Colts from scoring in the second half. The Warriors had actually kept the Colts from scoring the entire game. The only score was unfortunately an own goal that went the wrong way as a Socorro defender tried to clear the ball. While the Warriors didn’t get a goal either, they had some chances. They played well defensively and everyone, including the younger players, got some playing time.

“Every one of them got to get out there and play. So that’s important. We just have some maturing to do a little bit, but a one zero game against NMMI is a huge accomplishment, and we actually scored the one goal for them. But that’s okay, you know, sometimes that happens. Really proud of all these kids. They really showed up. They really wanted to prove themselves to NMMI and come out here and say, ‘We can play against anything.’” Berger said.

The Warriors played their final game of the regular season against the Hot Springs Tigers again, but this time in T or C on Tuesday, Oct. 21. They won the second match-up between the two teams by a five-goal margin as well, this time winning 5-0. Ben Watkins scored two goals on the night. Kyle Berger, Derek Acosta and Isiah Trujillo each got one goal in the match.

Their two wins against Hot Springs put them at 2-6 in the district. The overall record for the season ended up 7-13 for the Warriors, same as last year. Looking to the future, the team has plenty of young players who got lots of playing time and experience this season.