Runners drop first home game after tough break

RIO RANCHO – The New Mexico Runners (0-3) finally returned home to the Rio Rancho Event Center on Sunday afternoon for their first home game of the season.

New Mexico’s favorite Arena Soccer team took on a familiar opponent in Certified Lions FC (2-2) out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and, as before, things did not go the Runners’ way as they fell 11-6 to the surging Lions.

The Runners are now 0-2 against this specific foe but will get another shot at them on Mar. 1 in Oklahoma.

Despite the final score, the Runners looked much better against the Lions this time around and managed to keep pace with their opponent for three quarters. At the start of the fourth quarter, the scoreboard read 6-5, Lions. The teams were even close-to-even on shots at that point, with 17 for the Lions and 15 for the Runners.

It was a back-and-forth battle throughout as the Lions scored three quick goals to start the game and the Runners came right back to make it 3-2 at the end of quarter one, thanks to Froilan Ramirez and Benji Rogers.

The second half started with a bang as Oklahoma City drew first blood. The Runners responded with two goals of their own, including a power play score from Ramirez (who finished with three goals).

Jordan Maldonado scored with one quarter left, cutting the Lions lead to one.

The Rio Rancho squad hit the fourth quarter running (pun intended), but a back-breaking own-goal for the Lions turned the tide and destroyed the Runners’ morale.

From there, OKC scored four quick goals. The Runners were forced to pull their goalkeeper Nate Yeager in the final minutes in favor of an extra attacker.

The move paid off. That extra attacker was Nick Cashmere and he scored the Runners final goal of the evening.

Unfortunately, the damage was done and there just wasn’t enough time for the plucky Runners to recover.

Next up, the Runners will take a short break before taking on San Diego Sockers 2 at the RREC on Jan. 12.