Hobbs boys, Albuquerque Academy girls take soccer tournament titles

Albuquerque Academy’s girls and the boys from Hobbs were crowned champions at Academy’s annual soccer tournament on Saturday.

The Chargers blanked Los Alamos 3-0, while the Eagles scored a flurry of goals late in the second half to overcome Academy with a 5-3 victory.

Sophomore Amelia Barnes had two goals for the Chargers (5-2-1), who got out super quick against the Hilltoppers (4-3-1), with two tallies in the first five minutes.

“I think we’re just finally getting some rhythm in terms of how we’re playing,” Chargers coach Andrew Wiese said. A formation change during the recent metro tournament is beginning to bear fruit, Wiese said.

“We were trying a few things, and so we’ve carried those forward,” he said. ”It took a little time for everyone to gel.”

Selena Broussard scored for Academy in the second minute, and Barnes scored about 2½ minutes later. The Chargers didn’t score again until the final minute of the match, with Barnes’ second.

Both Academy and Los Alamos won in penalty kicks in Friday’s semifinals to advance to the final.

“It’s a lot, but we’ve been better every game we’ve played,” Wiese said.

The Academy boys were leading Hobbs 3-2 into the latter stages of the second half, when the Eagles (9-2) recorded goals in the 66th, 70th and 75th minutes to rally for the tournament title.

Sophomore striker Joel Gamez found a great angle for the first of those three goals, tying the game from about 15 yards out.

A few minutes later, Nathan Flores pounced on a rebound on the far side, and he had a wide open net for the putback and a 4-3 Hobbs lead with roughly 10 minutes to go.

And four minutes after that, Raul Morales finished from near the top of the box, and it was suddenly a two-goal cushion for Hobbs, which has won six straight. The Eagles scored 11 goals in their three wins at the Academy tournament.

“No, they really haven’t (shown that type of explosiveness),” Hobbs coach Reyes Marquez said. “That’s one of the things everyone has talked about, the culture. Because we’re young, right? If you take a look at our roster, they’re a bunch of babies. But they’re showing some right. Culture is something we have to fight for for each other.”

Hobbs started 2-2.

“We’re on a pretty good little path right now,” Marquez said.

Academy (3-4-2) next plays against rival St. Pius, in a special home night game Tuesday at 7.