ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico women’s soccer team overcame a first-half equalizer to shoot their way to a 3-1 exhibition win over Fort Lewis College on Monday evening. The victory, powered by two late goals, came in the first match of the fall for first-year head coach Heather Dyche. The Lobos possessed the game and dominated the stat sheet to a massive 29-to-2 shot advantage.
New Mexico won the possession game in the first half as the game was played in the Fort Lewis half for much of the first 45 minutes. UNM dominated the shots (14 to 1), shots on goal (5 to 1) and corner kicks (6 to 1). Despite the edge throughout the halftime box score, UNM and Fort Lewis were tied at 1-1 going into the intermission.
Madisyn Olguin was the first to find the back of the net when she collected a Maddie Irwin pass at the top of the box and hammered home the goal to her left in the 31st minute. The Lobo lead was equalized by the Skyhawks in the 44th minute when Renee Terrell found the back of the net from the right edge of the box.
The Lobos remained the aggressors in the second half and kept the pressure on the Fort Lewis defense. The constant pressure gave way to a pair of UNM goals within five minutes of play. Claire Lynch forced a takeaway in the Skyhawk box when a Fort Lewis defender broke up a cross. The sophomore blasted home the right-footed goal in the 75th minute.
Freshman Bailey Webster scored her team’s third goal of the evening on an unconventional strike. She took a pass from Maddie Irwin along the right flank and unleashed a high, spinning ball. The shot soared 15 yards above the goal and corkscrewed in the wind and bounced in at the far post over the goalkeeper’s head.
SCORING SUMMARY
New Mexico (30:30): Madisyn Olguin (Maddie Irwin assist)
Fort Lewis (43:26): Renee Terrell (Jordan Hix assist)
New Mexico (74:36) Claire Lynch (unassisted)
New Mexico (78:39) Bailey Webster (Maddie Irwin assist)
STARTERS
New Mexico: Ulrich (GK), Ferrier, Chavez, Edemann, Coonrod, Webster, Irwin, Lynch, Guice, O’Connor and Olguin.
Fort Lewis: Espinosa (GK), Schmieder, Macomb, Archer, Strom, Riley, Singleton, Milliet, Hix, Thaden and Malecki.
NOTES
- The match, had it been a regular season affair, would have been the first two-assist game in junior Maddie Irwin’s career.
- Going back to the spring exhibition season, New Mexico has now its last five consecutive exhibitions.
- New Mexico’s starters included six seniors, two juniors, two sophomores and one freshman.
- Fort Lewis’s Jordan Hix, who assisted on their first goal, is the sister of Lobo Men’s Soccer freshman Justin Hix.
NEXT UP
It will be the best of challenges for the Lobos when they officially open their season on Friday, August 21. New Mexico will welcome the No.1 Florida State Seminoles who come to the UNM Soccer Complex as the defending national champions. Florida State is also the alma mater of head coach Heather Dyche who graduated from FSU in 2002.