Lobos to take on Spartans with MW Tourney Title on the line
 |
|
| No. 3-Seed NEW MEXICO LOBOS 13-5-2 (7-2-2 MW) |
No. 4-Seed SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS 8-6-6 (6-2-3 MW) |
|
Saturday, November 3 | 8 p.m. (MT) |
|
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Resilient has been a calling card of the 2018 University of New Mexico women’s soccer team and their semifinal match against No. 2-seed Wyoming was no different. The Lobos took a 1-0 lead into halftime and led for much of the second half until Wyoming scored the equalizing goal in the 79th minute. Seemingly not phased by that, the Lobos went on to dominate the first overtime period by not allowing a single shot by Wyoming. Less than two minutes into the second OT, true freshman Alesia Garcia put home the game-winner to send the Lobos to the MW Tournament Finals for the second-straight year.
Playing for the MW Tournament Title Again
After not qualifying for the Mountain West Tournament in 2016, year two under Heather Dyche, the UNM women’s soccer team will make its second-straight finals appearance after beating Colorado College 3-2 in the quarterfinal round and Wyoming 2-1 in double OT in the semifinals. This will be the program’s 7th all-time appearance in the final round of the MW Tournament. The Lobos have one tournament championship, winning it all in 2011.
Filling Up the All-Mountain West Team
In the recently released All-Mountain West Teams, UNM garnered five recipients with three being named to the first team to match a program-best. Representing the Lobos as 2018 All-Mountain West selections were Jessie Hix, Gwen Maly and Jennifer Muñoz on the first team, while Alesia Garcia and Jessica Nelson were named to the second team. Garcia, a freshman, was also honored on the All-Newcomer Team.
New Program Record for Goals
With their 3-goal output against Colorado College in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament, the UNM women’s soccer team set a new program record for goals scored in a season with 43. The Lobos added two more goals in their semifinal game against Wyoming to increase the mark to 45.
Back-to-Back MW Player of the Week
A week after junior goalkeeper Emily Johnson was named as the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week, UNM went back-to-back on conference weekly honors as senior forward Jennifer Munoz garnered Offensive Player of the Week honors. Munoz’s honor gave the Lobos three honorees this season. Freshman Alesia Garcia netted the first POW award back in August.
Scoring From All Directions
The Lobos have scored 45 goals to this point of the season to lead the Mountain West and rank in the Top-15 in DI. Of those 45 goals scored, 13 different players have found the back of the net with 11 doing so on multiple occasions. Gwen Maly and Alesia Garcia lead the team with seven goals, followed by Jennifer Munoz with five. Jessie Hix, Cami Floth and Jill Olguin are tied for fourth on the team with four goals. Leilani Baker and Jadyn Edwards’ three goals are fourth-best on the team while Lexi Baca, Madi Hirschman, Mackenna Havenor, and have all scored a pair of goals. Amelia Bierle and Alexa Kirton have added one goal each, respectively.
Who Scores First Matters
Through the 20 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 11-1-1 when they score first in a game. Conversely, the Lobos are 2-4-1 when the opponent registers the first score of a game. That was 0-4-0 prior to three weekends ago as the Lobos rallied from early deficits to beat Utah State and draw with Boise State.
Multiple Goals = Lobo Wins
Under Heather Dyche, the Lobos are 33-2-4 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 11-2-4 in such games.