Cavegirls take down Mayfield in district opener

CARLSBAD — Even with some unfavorable circumstances in front of them, the Carlsbad girls soccer team continued having different players contribute on the scoring end en route to a 3-0 district-opening win Tuesday against Mayfield.

Senior forward Lauryn Wade left the match a couple minutes into regulation with a left knee injury, but the offense still had more than enough firepower on hand.

Senior midfielder Reilly Salness scored the opening goal 3 minutes and 28 seconds in from the right edge of the box, and senior forward Tessa Graham scored goal number two just 17 seconds later on a breakaway chance down the left side.

“That just shows the depth that we have on the team. You don’t like seeing a kid go down. Hopefully, (Lauryn’s) going to be alright. Next man up, if you will,” coach Misty Long said. “We talked about starting fast and getting after it fast. That was big to see us finish those opportunities.”

Senior midfielder Ashtin Rhoades knocked in the third goal from about 10 yards out on the far right edge.

“(Lauryn’s injury) kind of caught us off-guard at first, but we just pulled through and won,” Salness said. “We knew that (the Trojans) were going to defend hard. We just had to pull out some tricks out of our sleeve. We knew we had to put on a lot more pressure and pass quicker.”

Junior midfielder Rylee Hoover assisted on all three goals.

On the other end, Carlsbad limited Mayfield’s scoring chances. The Cavegirls played even tighter on defense whenever the Trojans came within 20 yards of the net.

“It’s fantastic. (Mayfield’s) front three are fast and feisty little players,” Long said. “Seeing that, that’s just a testament to the team. They all cover each other.”

Carlsbad had 10 shots on goal and held Mayfield to just three shots on goal.

Carlsbad (6-0, 1-0) will continue district play at 3 p.m. Saturday at Centennial.

CARLSBAD 3, MAYFIELD 0

Up next for Carlsbad: 3 p.m. Saturday at Centennial

Up next for Mayfield: 1 p.m. Saturday vs. Oñate

Current-Argus Sports Editor Matt Hollinshead may be reached at 575-628-5518, mhollinshead@currentargus.com and @MattH_717 on Twitter.