Garcia’s game-winner in double OT sends Lobos to second-straight MW Tournament Title game

SAN JOSE, Calif. – For the second-straight season, the University of New Mexico women’s soccer team is one step away from a potential bid to the NCAA Tournament by advancing to the Mountain West Tournament Championship game as true freshman Alesia Garcia scored the game-winning goal for UNM minutes into the second overtime on Thursday night against No. 2-seed Wyoming in the semifinals.
 
“I’m so proud of this team,” remarked UNM head coach Heather Dyche. “All year long we go down and we get ourselves in these situations and they keep fighting back and they believe in each other and because of that I don’t ever feel like we are out of a game.”
 

102′ | GOAL NEW MEXICO! Alesia Garcia cleans up a shot in the box for the game-winning GOAL! We are playing for the Mountain West Tournament Title for the second-straight year! #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/EQP0WPw5Cb

— Lobo Women’s Soccer (@UNMLoboWSoccer) November 2, 2018

Garcia’s heroics came less than two minutes into the second overtime period as she was in the right place at the right time following a left-footed shot on goal by Gwen Maly. The shot by Maly was not secured by the Wyoming goalkeeper and Garcia was there to put the ball in the back of the net and send the Lobos (13-5-2) to the Mountain West Tournament Championship game against either No. 1-seed Boise State or No. 4-seed San Jose State (at time of this release, Boise and San Jose were playing).
 
“To have a freshman step up and go put that away is really cool,” added Coach Dyche on Garcia’s game-winner.
 
In the game, UNM grabbed the lead in the 34^th minute on the fourth goal of the season by Jill Olguin, who scored on one of the trademark flip-throw balls sent in from Jessica Nelson. The Lobos would carry that lead into the break and sustained it for much of the second half, but Wyoming was relentless in their attack in the second 45 and notched the equalizing goal in the 79^th minute.
 

34′ | GOAL NEW MEXICO! Jill Olguin gives us a 1-0 lead! #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/JkRu0SD8cp

— Lobo Women’s Soccer (@UNMLoboWSoccer) November 1, 2018

 
Prior to that game-tying goal by the Cowgirls (12-4-4), UNM goalkeeper Emily Johnson was a brick wall in goal as she made five saves within the first 20 minutes of the second half. Three of the saves came within a minute of each other with the first two coming on the same sequence.
 

68′ | Emily Johnson with a pair of saves in a flurry of tries by Wyoming…Still lead 1-0 #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/fpNUMItlg1

— Lobo Women’s Soccer (@UNMLoboWSoccer) November 2, 2018

Despite surrendering the tying goal, the Lobos carried on and played the match to overtime.
 
In the first overtime, UNM controlled possession virtually the entire time as the Cowgirls were unable to register a single shot. In fact, the only statistics logged by Wyoming in the first OT were a pair of fouls and a substitution.
 
The Lobos now await their opponent in the championship game, but the game will take place on Saturday, November 3 at 8 p.m. (MT).
 
“We are going to try find some energy and stay off of our legs,” said Coach Dyche on preparing for the championship game. “We did this last year and it’s difficult, so hopefully we can find a little bit extra in the tank and our roster is quite a bit deeper this year so we are ready. We will give it a go.”
 
NOTES

• Just a freshman, Garcia’s fifth game-winning goal this season makes her tied for sixth all-time at UNM
• The win was Emily Johnson’s 22^nd of her career, moving into fourth on the all-time list
• The pair of assists in the game give the Lobos 33 this season which is currently the second-most in school history.
• The win was also the 13^th this season, tying for the second-most in program history.