Lobos open season Friday night at UNM Soccer Complex

UNM GAME NOTES | IN-GAME UPDATES ON @UNMLOBOWSOCCER
 

LOBO INVITATIONAL
Friday, Aug. 18
Texas Tech vs. Grand Canyon, 4 p.m.
New Mexico vs. San Francisco, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 20
New Mexico vs. Grand Canyon, 10:30 a.m.
Texas Tech vs. San Francisco, 1 p.m.
LIVE STATS
 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s soccer team season gets underway 7:30 p.m. Friday as the Lobos take on University of San Francisco in their opening game of the Lobo Invitational at UNM Soccer Complex.

Texas Tech and Grand Canyon get the Lobo Invitational going at 4 p.m. Friday and the event continues Sunday with UNM taking on Grand Canyon at 10:30 a.m. and the Red Raiders facing San Francisco at 1 p.m.

The Lobos head into Friday’s season opener guided by third-year head coach Heather Dyche after she led the Lobos to a 9-7-3 mark in 2016. Overall, the Albuquerque native is 19-15-5 with UNM.

UNMlost six starters from last season’s team, but will be led by an experienced back line with last season’s starters Emily Chavez (who has started 56 consecutive games and has led the team in minutes in each of the last three seasons) and Ashley Ballantyne anchoring UNM at center back and Alexa Cabrales (had a team-high six assists in 2016) returning at outside back. While new, Arizona-transfer Jessica Nelson will also give UNM a veteran presence on the back line.

The midfield/forward positions return a pair of starters in 2016 in Lobo leading goal scorer Claire Lynch (eight goals) and junior Jennifer Munoz (two goals, one assist) while key reserve Jessie Hix (who scored two goals and logged over 1,000 minutes in 2016) will likely start in the midfield. Also look for seniors Quincy Slora (eight starts), Casey Murphy (seven starts, one goal) and Eileen Zendejas along with junior Isabella Jimenez (four starts) to be in the mix when it comes to the returnees.

At keeper, sophomore Emily Johnson and freshman Malia Vanisi will be competing to start.

Along with Nelson, the Lobos have 16 newcomers to the roster – including 15 freshman (unofficially an NCAA Division I women’s soccer high).

As for UNM’s opponents this weekend, the Lobos and San Francisco will be playing for the first time in 20 years – last matching up Sept. 20, 1997, in Stanford, California, a 2-0 UNM win. The only other meeting between these two teams came in Albuquerque in 1996 with UNM falling 3-2 in overtime.

The Lobos played Grand Canyon – Sunday’s opponent – for the first time last season with UNM defeating the Lopes 2-0 on Sept. 9 on a neutral site in Flagstaff, Arizona.

NOTES HEADING INTO FRIDAY:

• The Lobos will play at home for the first time this season much sooner than in 2016 as they didn’t play at UNM Soccer Complex until 2016.
• Twenty-five of the Lobos’ 35 players weren’t born the last time UNM and San Francisco played on Sept. 20, 1997.
• The University of New Mexico women’s soccer team truly represents the Land of Enchantment as there are 15 players on the roster from New Mexico. The 15 players come from five different cities with Albuquerque represented the most with 11 players. The Lobos also have a player each from Rio Rancho, Portales, Farmington and Carlsbad.
• Senior Claire Lynch enters the 2017 campaign tied for fourth on the UNM all-time goals scored list with 17 after scoring eight last season. The Albuquerque native is tied with Lana Melendres (1996-99) and is seven goals behind the No. 3 spot held by Nichole Highfil (24 goals from 1993-95). Laurie Hegedorn (1994-97) owns the all-time goal scoring record with 61 goals. Lynch has also proven to do it in clutch situations as seven of her 17 goals are game-winning goals – good for fourth on the UNM all-time list.
• Senior Emily Chavez enters her fourth season as a starter for the Lobos and is on a 56-match starting streak. Not only has the Albuquerque native started every game of her Lobo career, the center back has led the Lobos in minutes played each season and has accumulated more than 5,000 career minutes at UNM.
• The Lobos will be looking for their first victory in their season opener since defeating Montana 7-0 in 2010. UNM is 0-4-2 in their previous six season openers with three of those losses coming to ranked opponents.
• Along with the success on the field, the UNM women’s soccer program is proving to be one of the top teams off of it as well as the Lobos put together a 3.77 GPA in the 2017 spring semester. It’s the 14th-consecutive semester UNM women’s soccer has put together a 3.4 GPA or better.
• The Lobos will have an alum playing overseas professionally as Brooke Webster will be playing for a team in Denmark – Varde IF in the 3F Ligaen. The Huntington Beach, California, native was a steady force for UNM during her four seasons – logging more than 3,300 minutes as a Lobo and capping her career by hitting a game-ending penalty kick against San Diego State in UNM’s 2016 season finale.
• Maddie Irwin, who just finished her final season with the Lobos in 2016, will be playing for the United States at the World University Games from Aug. 19-30 in Taipei. She is joining 16 current and former student-athletes that will be competing at the 2017 Summer Universiade (another name for the World University Games) – where more than 120 countries will compete in 22 sports. The Tucson, Arizona, native finished her career with 11 goals and four assists in 73 career games – including 52 starts (she started every game for the Lobos in her final two seasons).

Follow the UNM women’s soccer team on Twitter (@UNMLoboWSoccer) or on Instagram (@UNMLoboWSoccer) for updates and information on your Lobos!