UNM GAME NOTES | IN-GAME UPDATES ON @UNMLOBOWSOCCER
Friday, Oct. 6 – 7:30 p.m.
New Mexico (8-4, 3-1) vs. Fresno State (6-4-2, 1-2-1)
Albuquerque, N.M. – UNM Soccer Complex
LIVE STREAM / LIVE STATS
Sunday, Oct. 8 – 1 p.m.
New Mexico (8-4, 3-1) vs. San Jose State (6-5, 3-1)
Albuquerque, N.M. – UNM Soccer Complex
LIVE STREAM / LIVE STATS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In an already tight race in the Mountain West, the University of New Mexico women’s soccer team hosts a pair of key conference contests as the Lobos take on Fresno State 7:30 p.m. Friday and San Jose State 1 p.m. Sunday at UNM Soccer Complex.
UNM (8-4 overall) are 3-1 in Mountain West play, tied for second place in the Mountain West with San Jose State and San Diego State – both just behind Air Force (3-0-1) for first place in the conference. Wyoming isn’t far behind at 2-1-1 while defending champion UNLV (who the Lobos already beat) and Boise State (who UNM lost to last week) are both 2-2.
The Lobos are coming off a 1-1 weekend in which they fell to the Broncos 3-0 on Friday in Boise and defeated Utah State 2-1 on Sunday in Logan, Utah, in what was a wild finish. In Sunday’s victory, UNM and the Aggies were scoreless until the 81st minute when freshman Alexa Kirton found a loose ball in the box and scored her first career goal. Utah State took advantage of an unlucky bounce and scored with 44 seconds left to tie, but the Lobos answered 16 seconds later as Aspen Headrick found a sprinting Claire Lynch in the box and the senior put it in for the game-winner.
UNM faces a Fresno State team Friday night that went 1-0-1 last weekend after playing Wyoming to a scoreless tie Friday in Laramie and beating Colorado State on the road 3-1 on Sunday. The Lobos had their four-game unbeaten streak against the Bulldogs snapped last season when UNM fell at Fresno State, 3-0. The Lobos are 2-1 all-time at home against the Bulldogs.
As for Sunday, the Lobos take on a San Jose State squad that went 1-1 on its road trip at Colorado State and Wyoming last weekend – beating the Rams 1-0 in overtime on Friday and falling to the Cowgirls 1-0 Sunday. UNM is 2-1-1 against the Spartans in their last four meetings – including a 3-1 season on the road last season. Overall UNM is 2-3-2 against San Jose State all-time, including 1-1 at home against the Spartans.
NOTES HEADING INTO FRIDAY:
- UNM has had a great home advantage for years (the Lobos are 5-1 at UNM Soccer Complex this season) and much of that is owed to the Lobos’ fan base that helps the team lead or be near the top of the Mountain West in attendance. The Lobos lead the conference this season with 813 people per contest.
- Senior Claire Lynch with her game-winning goal on Sept. 22 against UNLV became the fourth player in program history to reach the 20-goal mark – along with Laurie Hegedorn (61), Jennifer Williams (36) and Nicole Highfil (24). Lynch has also proven to do it in when her team needs it the most as 11 of her now 21 career goals (after tallying the game-winner on Sunday at Utah State) are game-winners – good for third on the UNM all-time list. Her 43 career points are fifth place in school history.
- Senior Emily Chavez enters her fourth season as a starter for the Lobos and is on a 68-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 hit the 6,000-minute career mark (6,087). The La Cueva grad is approaching the top 10 in Lobo history in minutes played as No. 10 is Melissa Liston (1993-96) with 6,310.
- A pair of freshmen had firsts Sunday against Utah State in Logan, Utah. Alexa Kirton scored her first career goal in the 81st minute to give the Lobos a 1-0 lead. Sixteen seconds after the Aggies scored the equalizer in the 90th minute, freshman Aspen Headrick set up Claire Lynch’s game-winner for her first career assist in the Lobos’ 2-1 victory.
- UNM sophomore Jessie Hix scored the Lobos’ lone goal on Sept. 24 in a 1-0 win over Nevada – giving her four goals in the Lobos’ last four games, all coming via headers. She was named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week for Sept. 11-17 after scoring a combined three goals in wins over Houston and Northern Arizona.
- UNM sophomore keeper Emily Johnson sits atop the Mountain West and is tied for 28th in the nation in shutouts with five.
- UNM is showing it’s able to get chances at a better clip than in 2016 – and at a level near the top of the NCAA. Last season UNM averaged 14.2 shots per game while this season UNM is averaging 18.2 shots per match – 17th in the NCAA. UNM is also holding opponents to fewer shots per game thus far – limiting teams to 10.2 shots per contest compared to 13.1 last season. On the season, the Lobos have taken 94 more shots than their opponents (218-122).
- 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.
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