Lobos snag early lead, fall to USF in opener

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It took just three minutes for the University of New Mexico women’s soccer team to get on the board in the 2017 season as a beautifully lofted corner kick by Casey Murphy found a leaping Emily Chavez who headed it in to give the Lobos a quick 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately against a team just two years removed from making it to the sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, UNM couldn’t hold on as the Dons scored on a quick hitter off a set piece in the first half and took the lead for good in the second half on a one-timer as the Lobos fell 2-1 Friday in front of more than 1,000 fans at UNM Soccer Complex in their season and Lobo Invitational opener.

“That’s a really good team over there, and I was still disappointed we couldn’t come away with a win so that is encouraging,” UNM coach Heather Dyche said. “I saw a lot of good things tonight. There are things that we did wrong – like despite scoring, we didn’t come out with the energy we needed to at the beginning of the game. But those are fixable. I saw we have the capability to score a multitude of ways this year – last year we could only score one or two ways.”

The Lobos (0-1-0) took more shots (19-14) and shots on goal (8-5) than the Dons (1-0-0), but couldn’t find a way to get it by USF keeper Olivia Camera as she finished with seven saves.

Ten minutes following Chavez’s goal in the opening minutes, USF played a set piece quick and Samantha Jehnings placed a perfect ball from 20 yards out into the top-left corner to tie the game 1-1.

Much like the Lobos scored quickly in the first half, USF did so in the second half as just three minutes in Sonja Giraud scored off of a rebound on a diving save by Emily Johnson to take a 2-1 advantage.

UNM had its chances in the final 10 minutes as Chavez had a header go off the post, Leilani Baker had a hard shot saved and Quincy Slora ripped a rocket from 20 yards out that went just wide to the right as the Lobos never found their equalizer.

The Lobos return to action 10:30 a.m. Sunday when they host Grand Canyon in their final game of the Lobo Invitational. The Lopes fell to Texas Tech, 1-0, on Friday in Albuquerque.