Final regular season road trip on tap
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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 8-5-0 (4-2-0 MW) |
COLORADO COLLEGE TIGERS 8-4-0 (3-3-0 MW) |
AIR FORCE FALCONS 8-4-1 (3-3-0 MW) |
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Friday, October 18 – 7 p.m. |
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Sunday, October 20 – Noon |
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Kicking Off
Frequent flier miles have not been hard to rack up for the University of New Mexico women’s soccer team this year as nearly 70% of their games played this season have come on the road, but the end is in sight as the Lobos are preparing to embark on their final regular season road trip this weekend. The final trip will see the Lobos take on Colorado College on Friday night and Air Force on Sunday afternoon.
The Lobos will coming into the weekend of games at 8-5-0 overall and 4-2-0 in Mountain West play. This past weekend, the Lobos went 1-1-0 on the road with a 2-1 win over Utah State and a 1-0 loss at Boise State. The loss to Boise State broke what was a tie atop the league standings and places the Lobos in a three-way tie for second place.
Just one game back of the Lobos and the two teams they are tied with for second are the Lobos’ two opponents this weekend as both the Colorado College Tigers and the Air Force Falcons enter play this weekend at 3-3-0 in MW action.
After their Friday night game with UNM, Colorado College will remain at home and host San Diego State on Sunday. Conversely, SDSU will be Air Force’s opponent prior taking on the Lobos on Sunday.
UNM News and Notes
Maly-Maly
After leading the Lobos in goals scored last year with seven, redshirt junior Gwen Maly got off to a relatively slow start offensively this year with only one goal through the team’s first eight games. In the five games since, Maly
has got back on track with four goals and has taken over the team-lead. Her best game came at Utah State on October 11 when she scored both of the Lobos goals.
Baker Named MW Offensive Player of the Week
The Lobos scored six goals across their two games last week and Leilani Baker was in the middle of half of them as she scored twice and registered an assist as well. Her five-point week helped the Lobos go 2-0 and jump into a tie for first place, but it also netted the Rio Rancho native her first career MW Offensive Player of the Week honor.
Walters’ breakout game
True freshman Maysa Walters has emerged as a player to be reckoned with and has gained more time on the pitch. With the playing experience, Walters is also producing. In the Lobos’ 3-1 win over Nevada, Walters had a hand in all three goals as she dished out two assists and scored a goal. The four-point effort is a career-best for the young player from Billings, Mont.
Balanced Scoring
Last season, the Lobos set a new program record for goals with 45. An impressive note to that record was the fact that the team had 13 different goal scorers. This season, the Lobos have put forth another balanced scoring attack. With 19 goals to this point of the season, there have been six different goal scorers and four of those are have three or more goals.
Between the Pipes
Going back to last season, the Lobos have had quality options of goalkeeper with Emily Johnson and Malia Vanisi equally as capable. Last year, Johnson received a majority of the time in goal for the Lobos and started the first two games this season, which included an impressive 1-0 shutout of then-ranked No. 22 Texas Tech, but an injury has sidelined Johnson opening the door for Vanisi to step in.
In the 11 games that Vanisi has played, she has allowed 10 goals and posted 53 saves while registering a trio of shutouts.
Combined, Johnson and Vanisi have turned in four clean sheets. Last season, the Lobos had just one defensive shutout.
Offense Gaining Momentum
After scoring two goals through their first four games, the Lobos offense has began to pick up steam as they have scored 17 goals over their last nine games. The Lobos have won seven of those nine games.
One-Goal Difference
Thus far, 10 of the 13 games played by the Lobos this season have been one-goal games. In those games, the Lobos are 5-5. Last season, the Lobos played 12 one-goal games and posted a 7-5 record.
EJ Named MW Defensive Player of the Week
Senior goalkeeper Emily Johnson earned the first MW Defensive Player of the Week award for the 2019 season after she withstood an unrelenting offensive attack by the No.22-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders for the entirety of the 90-minute match en route to a clean sheet.
In the first half, Johnson faced 10 shots and made three saves. In the second half, with the Lobos holding a 1-0 lead, Johnson was forced to face 12 shots and made four more saves. The individual shutout posted by Johnson was her eighth as the Lobo goalkeeper and the weekly conference plaudit was the second in her career as well.
Knocking Off Nationally-Ranked Foe
Historically, the Lobos have played 33 matches against a ranked opponent coming into the 2019 season. All-time the Lobos’ record vs. ranked opponents was 4-25-5. Coming off of their NCAA Second Round run a year ago, UNM’s first opponent, the Texas Tech Red Raiders, were ranked No. 22 in the United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll.
This year’s meeting marked the fourth time that the Lobos would play the Red Raiders when they were ranked. In those games, the Lobos were 0-3-0, but a “1” was added to the win column for the Lobos after they pulled off a 1-0 upset win of the Red Raiders.
The win snapped what was a five-game losing streak to the Red Raiders and was the first win for the Lobos over a ranked opponent since 2010 when they beat No. 8-ranked BYU.
Hix Knocking on Door of Top-5 in Goals
A two-time All-Mountain West First Team selection, Jessie Hix has turned in a stellar career thus far for her hometown team. Her prowess on the pitch is most evident offensively. For her career, Hix has found the back of the net 17 times to place her currently tied for fifth all-time at UNM. Thus far in her senior campaign, Hix has scored three goals.
Garcia and Game-Winners
Sophomore forward Alesia Garcia wasted little time in establishing herself as one of the top scoring threats in the MW as she ranked in a tie for second with seven goals. While any goal is important, all but two of Garcia’s were extremely important as they ended up being game-winning goals. Her five game-winners as a freshman were tied for the second-most by a Lobo in a season and already place her in a tie for sixth on the career list.
Garcia has wasted no time in adding to her total as her penalty kick goal in the waining seconds of the first half against No. 22-ranked Texas Tech stood up as the game-winner. Garcia, now with six career game-winners to her credit is tied for fifth all-time.
Road Warriors
Home games were kind to the Lobos last season as they went 8-1-1 while playing at the UNM Soccer Complex, but this year, the Lobos will be forced to be road warriors as 11 of their 18 scheduled regular season games will take place away from the Duke City. Currently, the Lobos are 4-4-0 on the road.