The University of New Mexico women’s soccer team looked like a hard-luck race-car driver Thursday night. So close to the finish line, the Lobos ran out of gas.
Wyoming erased UNM’s 1-0 lead with just 17:02 left in the game, then scored the game-winner 3:12 into overtime on Laurel Ramer’s point-blank shot with Lobo goalkeeper Cassie Ulrich hopelessly out of position to advance to the Mountain West Tournament championship game with a 2-1 overtime victory.
The Lobos, who dominated the Cowgirls for the first 150 minutes during their two games in 2014, ended the season with a 10-6-2 mark.
UNM coach Kit Vela said Wyoming was smart to employ a strategy of punting the ball downfield and making the Lobos chase the entire game.
“It’s hard to defend that long when you have to chase the long ball,” Vela said. “Yes, our girls were a little fatigued; we have a young team. They’re warriors, and I’m really proud of them.”
After allowing two quick shots in the first minute, UNM settled down and seized control of the game. The third-seeded Lobos outshot the second-seeded Cowgirls 6-3 in the first half and had an 8-5 edge in shots more than 60 minutes into the game.
But UNM, which scored a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Boise State on Tuesday night, looked as if it began to tire. Wyoming (11-8-1), which had a first-round bye, took advantage. The higher seed outshot the Lobos 10-1 the rest of the way.
A Cowgirls corner kick with 17:10 left in regulation bounced around in front of the UNM goal before midfielder Candace Sciberras got a clean shot off a rebound into the far corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
Wyoming had two other golden chances to score before the end of regulation. Ulrich scooped up a weak shot from about 10 yards out, and she snuffed out a one-on-one opportunity a Cowgirls player had but decided too late what to do with the ball.
In overtime, Wyoming got off four shots in just more than three minutes. A throw-in deep in UNM territory found its way to Mandy Meyer at the top of the box. She made a nice pass to Kaitlyn Lomsnes just to the right of the goal, which drew Ulrich to come over to defend. Lomsnes passed to a wide-open Ramer on the left who knocked in the shot and ended the Lobos season.
UNM entered the game on a four-game winning streak that included a 2-1 win over the Cowgirls at the UNM Soccer Complex in which the Lobos outshot the Cowgirls 26-11.
“The officials called that game a little differently, and we had to adjust to how it was being called tonight,” Vela said. “But we had a lot of chances; we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.
Except for the game’s first goal when a Madisyn Olguin pass hit Lindsey Guice in stride as she raced toward the Wyoming goal and beat Cowgirls goalkeeper Alex Boehm at the 31-minute mark to give the Lobos a 1-0 lead.
“I thought Lindsey had an outstanding tournament, scoring in both games,” Vela said of Guice, who had the game-winning score Tuesday night against Boise State.
The Lobos played outstanding soccer during the second half of the season, and have the pieces in place to be in the mix for a conference crown next season. The team loses only midfielder Alexis Leyba, the single senior on the team.
“It’s nice ground to build from,” Vela said. “This can be a heck of a team, moving forward.”
Scoring Summary
New Mexico: (30:09) Lindsey Guice (Madisyn Olguin)
Wyoming: (72:58) Candace Sciberras (Alison Clarke); (93:12) Laurel Ramer (Kaityln Lomsnes)
Lineups
New Mexico: Ulrich (GK), O’Connor, Guice, Leyba, Chavez, Webster, Irwin, Ferrier, Cabrales, Coonrod, Olguin
Wyoming: Boehm (GK), Bass, Sciberras, Taylor, Clayton, Campbell, Schueren, Jameson, Tucker, Vogel, DeVries
Notes
– The Lobos went 9-3-2 in their last 14 games of the season after a 1-3 start.
– After scoring just one goal during the regular season, junior forward Lindsey Guice scored twice during MW Tournament play.
– UNM returns all but one player for 2015-16. Midfielder Alexis Leyba was the team’s lone senior.