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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — With The University of New Mexico women’s soccer program sitting at 4-3-0 on the season, the season can almost be split by two words. Home and away
On the road, UNM has struggled, going 0-3-0, scoring just once in three matches. At home the Lobos have been, well, unbeatable. They are 4-0-0, averaging three goals a match.
With that, head coach Heather Dyche and the rest of the Lobos are probably happy that the opening weekend of conference play occurs at the UNM Soccer Complex as UNM hosts Colorado State in its Mountain West opener on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and then Wyoming on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The matches should feature a pretty good contrasts of history between the programs, and both should be a battle.
The Lobos have never lost to Colorado State in the five years that the Rams have had a program (since 2013), going a perfect 5-0-0. Only two of those matches have been played in Albuquerque, and those were both 1-0 wins for UNM in 2014 and 2016. CSU has had a good start to its season at 3-3-2. The Rams are coming off a 1-0 win over SMU, but this will be CSU’s first road match since August 19. The Rams are 0-0-2 in road games, tying both Denver (1-1) and Colorado (0-0) on the opening weekend of the season.
The road trip is something of a new commodity for the Rams as it’s their first road game outside the state of Colorado since October 22 last year, nearly 11 months ago. UNM last year took a wild 4-2 game that was sitting quietly at 1-1 after 71 minutes, and then all sorts of crazy happened as UNM scored three goals in a 6:17 span. First it was Clair Lynch netting her second of the game on a rocket from 20 yards out to make it 2-1. Aspen Headrick scored just 2:07 later in what turned out to be the game-winner, one-timing a ball that deflected off a Ram defender. Then, 4:04 after that UNM scored by throwing the ball into the net … literally. Jessica Nelson’s flip throw-in deflected off the hands of goalkeeper Hunter Pfifer and into the net, making it 4-1. CSU added a late goal with under six minutes left but it wasn’t enough.
While UNM and CSU have played just five times, UNM and Wyoming know each other quite well. The match on Sunday will be the 29th all-time between the two programs, the most common opponent for UNM (the Lobos and San Diego State have played 28 times). UNM leads the all-time series 15-7-6, including 7-4-2 at the UNM Soccer Complex. Last year UNM defeated Wyoming 3-2 to avenge a 3-0 loss in 2016 at the UNM Soccer Complex. The Lobos led 1-0 at the half when Wyoming inadvertently deflected a pass into its own net, and it stayed that way until early in the second when Wyoming tied it. UNM took the lead for good on a goal by Eileen Zendejas, and then UNm made it 3-1 when Jessie Hix put in a rebound off the crossbar after Claire Lynch’s shot hit the bar.
UNM’s 4-3-0 record in non-conference play has UNM set up nicely for the 11-match conference season. The Lobos, who have not finished below .500 since in 11 years, have the benefit of six home conference matches and just ive away this year (it flip-flops every season). UNM’s other home matches are all against Mountain Time Zone teams (Utah State, Boise State, Air Force and Colorado College), with the five road games all in the Pacific Time Zone (San Diego State, Nevada, UNLV, San Jose State and Fresno State).