| AIR FORCE FALCONS 2-6-6 (1-4-3 MW) |
COLORADO COLLEGE TIGERS 8-5-1 (4-3-1 MW) |
|
Friday, October 19 | 7:30 p.m. |
Sunday, October 21 | 1 p.m. |
UNM NOTES (PDF)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The 2018 regular season is drawing to a close and the University of New Mexico women’s soccer team is looking to continue to build momentum as the Mountain West Tournament is also on the horizon. The next two games for the Lobos will be played in the friendly confines of the UNM Soccer Complex and that is definitely a welcomed situation to be in. So far this season, the Lobos are 6-1-1 at home and are averaging 2.75 goals per game this season, finding the back of the net 22 times at home.
These next two home games are also the last of the 2018 regular season for the Lobos as they are set to host Air Force on Friday night and Colorado College. On Friday night, the team will be celebrating their seniors as Amelia Bierle, Jennifer Munoz and Jessica Nelson will be honored prior to the 7:30 p.m. start time of the game.
Scoring From All Directions
The Lobos have scored 33 goals to this point of the season and now lead the Mountain West, three goals ahead of Boise State and UNLV. Of those 33 goals scored, 13 different players have found the back of the net with seven doing so on multiple occasions.
Gwen Maly leads the team with six goals, followed by Alesia Garcia with five goals. Jessie Hix and Cami Floth are tied for third on the team with four goals. Leilani Baker’s three goals are fourth-best on the team while Lexi Baca, Madi Hirschman and Jennifer Munoz have all scored a pair of goals. Amelia Bierle, Jadyn Edwards, Mackenna Havenor, Alexa Kirton and Jill Olguin have added one goal each, respectively.
In Goal
Emily Johnson and Malia Vanisi have shared time in goal for the Lobos this season. Johnson has started 13 of 15 games for the Lobos and Vanisi has come in relief in five games, while starting two. The duo keepers have combined to notch three shutouts and stop 76% of shots on goal faced. Vanisi has two wins as a starter and two coming off the bench. Johnson has logged the most time in goal with 1069:05 minutes.
Who Scores First Matters
Through the 15 games of the season, a significant stat has emerged for the Lobo women’s soccer team and it has to do with who scores first in a game. Currently UNM is 7-1-1 when they score first in a game. Conversely, the Lobos are 1-4-1 when the opponent registers the first score of a game. That was 0-4-0 prior to two weekends ago as the Lobos rallied from early deficits to beat Utah State and draw with Boise State.
Home Sweet Home
The UNM Soccer Complex has been good the Lobos this year as all but two of their wins this season have come at home. Sporting a 6-1-1 record in the Duke City, the Lobos have also displayed a potent offense as they have scored 22 goals in their eight game at home, an average of 2.75 goals per game. The Lobos are down to just two more home games in 2018 with games against Air Force (10/19) and Colorado College (10/21) remaining.
Multiple Goals = Lobo Wins
Under Heather Dyche, the Lobos are 28-2-4 when scoring multiple goals in a game. The odd part of that stat is at one time UNM was 21-0-0. Then the oddities occurred. First, UNM lost on a free kick with seven seconds
left in overtime in which the clock was stopped to allow the free kick to happen … that was a 4-3 loss. That was followed by a pair of come-from-behind 2-2 ties, one while playing with 10 players, the other without leading scorer Claire Lynch in the Mountain West Tournament. Since then, UNM is 7-2-4 in such games.
Record in the Classroom
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 2018 spring semester. It’s the 16th-consecutive
semester UNM women’s soccer has put together a 3.4 GPA or better, and the 3.77 GPA tied with the spring semester of 2017 for the highest team GPA.
For the academic year 2017-18, the Lobos achieved a 3.75 team GPA to earn the United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award for the third-consecutive year.