ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Through 22 career games, Cami Floth, a sophomore from Keller, Texas, had no career goals and no career assists. She picked the perfect night to change that.
Floth scored the opening goal for UNM and then assisted on the game-winner less than four minutes later and that was all the Lobos needed as UNM ended a short two-game losing streak with a 2-1 win over UTEP. The Lobos moved to 3-3-0 on the season and UTEP dropped to 4-3-0 overall. UNM now sets its sights on the New Mexico State Aggies next Friday night in the second game of a four-game homestand.
UNM scored twice on its first three shots, giving them a lead that the Lobos would never relinquish. The opening goal came at the 8:58 mark off the foot of Amelia Bierle. Bierle held a ball at the corner of the 18-yard box and drove to the touchline, beating her defender. She sent a low pass across the box and Floth got inside positioning and smacked it home for her first career goal, giving UNM a 1-0 lead. After netting that goal, Floth took a corner kick just 3:40 later and put it right onto the head of Alexa Kirton, whose header went right to the foot of Jessie Hix. Hix one-timed it past a helpless Alyssa Palacios for a 2-0 lead.
That lead held for almost 60 minutes. With 18:42 to go, UTEP finally got on the board when Jojo Ngongo headed a ball forward and April Pate raced on it and hit a soft placement shot that went around Emily Johnson and banked in off the post to halve UNM’s lead to 2-1. UNM was never really threatened after that. UNM almost made it 3-1 very late when Jill Olguin scorched a shot around a defender but it was saved by Palacios. UNM then wound down the final 90 seconds on some nifty footwork by the senior Bierle, who brought the ball into the corner and effectively killed off the clock.
The win went to Malia Vanisi, who played the opening half and had two saves, improving to 2-0-0. Johnson had three saves in the second half as UNM outshot UTEP 18-11, including 7-6 on net. UNM had 10 corners to UTEP’s three.
NOTES: UNM and UTEP are now even in the all-time series at 5-5-1 … UNM is now 3-0-0 at home, outscoring the opposition 11-2 at home … Hix tied for the team lead in goals with three, joining teammate Alesia Garcia.
This story was revised to reflect scoring changes on both UNM goals