UNM GAME NOTES | IN-GAME UPDATES ON @UNMLOBOWSOCCER
Friday, Oct. 27- 7:30 p.m.
New Mexico (12-6, 7-3) vs. San Diego State (9-7-2, 6-2-2)
Albuquerque, N.M. – UNM Soccer Complex
LIVE STREAM / LIVE STATS
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico women’s soccer team will be playing for key positioning in next week’s Mountain West Tournament on the Lobos’ Senior Night as they host San Diego State 7:30 p.m. Friday at UNM Soccer Complex in both teams’ regular-season finale.
UNM (12-6 overall, 7-3 Mountain West) sits in second place in the Mountain West with 21 points with a game left, one point ahead of SDSU (9-7-2, 6-2-2) and Boise State (6-2-2) as all three teams have a chance to come away with the No. 2 spot in the conference and the bye that comes with it. The Lobos can secure the spot with a win Friday night or a tie and a Boise State tie or loss. San Diego State will claim the bye if it beats UNM (the Aztecs hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with Boise State). Boise State needs a UNM/SDSU tie and a victory over Utah State to snag the bye.
The Lobos swept the weekend as they defeated Colorado State 4-2 at home Friday afternoon and turned around to defeat Wyoming on the road 3-2 Sunday afternoon. In Friday’s victory, the Lobos scored three goals in the second half to pull away for the victory. Claire Lynch scored the first two goals for the Lobos (20′, 72′) followed by Aspen Headrick’s first career goal (75′) and Jessica Nelson (79′) to help UNM move to 5-0 all-time against the Rams. On Sunday, the Lobos took a 1-0 lead on a Wyoming own-goal in the eighth minute. The Cowgirls evened the score early in the second half before Eileen Zendejas scored her first career goal in the 52nd minute and Jessie Hix followed with a goal in the 68th minute (her sixth goal of the season) to lead the Lobos to what eventually was a 3-2 victory.
UNM hosts a San Diego State team that it is 2-1 against in its last three meetings, including winning last season in overtime in San Diego. UNM is 7-12-7 all-time against the Aztecs, including 4-3-5 all-time at home against San Diego State – though it dropped a 2-1 contest the last time these teams played in Albuquerque in 2015.
NOTES HEADING INTO FRIDAY:
- The Lobos with their win against Wyoming on the road Sunday moved to 7-3 in Mountain West play, tied for the most wins in conference play in program history. UNM twice before had seven wins – in 2014 and 2015.
- Senior Claire Lynch has scored a goal in five of the Lobos’ last seven games (six goals in that stretch) after knocking two home against Colorado State on Friday. It gives her nine goals on the season with six of them being game winners. The nine goals is eighth on the single-season UNM all-time list. In her career, Lynch has 26 goals – good for third place on the UNM all-time list. Of her 26 goals, 13 are game winners (third on the all-time UNM list). Her 54 career points are third on the Lobo all-time list.
- UNM coach Heather Dyche earned her 31st career victory Sunday against Wyoming, giving her the most wins in the first three seasons of any Lobo women’s soccer coach in program history. John DeWitt (who coached the Lobos from 1996-2000) had 30 wins in his first three seasons, Amy Allmann (1993-95) had 27 in her first three seasons and Kit Vela (2001-14) had 19 wins in her first three years. Her .587 career winning percentage is also tops in program history (Allmann – .527, Vela – .513, DeWitt – .454).
- Senior Emily Chavez enters her fourth season as a starter for the Lobos and is on a 74-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, hit the 6,000-minute career mark earlier this season and her 6,627 career minutes has her sixth on the Lobos’ all-time list – passing Ashley Lowery (6,564 – 2003-06) on the all-time list.
- UNM senior Eileen Zendejas, who worked to earn a starting spot in her final season, scored her first career goal by knocking home the Lobos’ second goal Sunday during a 3-2 UNM win over Wyoming.
- UNM sophomore Jessie Hix scored the Lobos’ game-winner against Wyoming on Sunday via a header – a common theme for the Albuquerque native this season. All six of her goal (which is second on the team this season) have come via headers. Earlier this season, Hix 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 has shown if it can get on the board in a game one time or more, it’s going to win the majority of the time. If the Lobos get more than one goal, they’ve been unbeatable in 2017. UNM is 12-2 when it scores a goal in a game and is 7-0 when it scores two or more goals.
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