Women's Soccer Edged by Grand Canyon 2-1

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico women’s soccer team saw its three-game unbeaten streak snapped Sunday with a 2-1 loss to Grand Canyon at the UNM Soccer Complex. In a battle of preseason conference favorites, the Lopes (4-1-1) scored once in each half to down the Lobos (1-2-2).

Jadyn Edwards scored her fifth goal of the season for New Mexico, moving her into solo third place on the school’s career goal chart with 28 goals.

The Lopes took an early 1-0 lead in the 14th minute as Gianna Gourley one-timed a pass from Lindsey Prokop off the break for her sixth goal of the season. The Lobos’ had several chances late in the half to draw even, highlighted by a long-range strike from Mercedes Morris in the 41st minute that was tipped over the bar by the keeper. GCU took that 1-0 lead into halftime, having outshot New Mexico 8-4 over the opening 45 minutes.

In the second half, UNM almost tied the game when Edwards’ free kick from 25 yards out hit the crossbar. A pair of big saves from Alli Davis early in the half kept the Lobos within one before Edwards drew UNM even in the 60th minute. Taking another free kick, this time from 35 yards out, she curled a shot into the upper corner to tie the game. The Lopes retook the lead five minutes later when Leah Pirro scored off a breakaway to make the score 2-1. That was the final margin as the Lopes held off the Lobos over the final 25 minutes to secure the win.

The Lopes outshot the Lobos 18-10 in the game and had a 9-4 corner-kick advantage. Alli Davis and Callie Droitsch combined for eight saves in goal for UNM, recording six and two, respectively.

“What I challenged the team to do, after Thursday (against Portland State), was to control our effort,” said UNM head coach Heather Dyche. “We wanted to win a lot of the 50-50 battles, be better in the air and be the louder team. I don’t think we were that on Thursday night and I thought we were today. If you control those things and the other team gets a couple goals against you, I’m not disappointed in it. I think we controlled the effort and the energy, and we created enough chances that we could have won today against a very good GCU team.”

The Lobos will conclude its non-conference schedule next week with a two-game road trip to California. UNM will play at UC San Diego on Thursday and UC Riverside on Sunday.

GRAND CANYON 2, NEW MEXICO 1

Grand Canyon (4-1-1)                     1  1  –  2
New Mexico (1-2-2)                        0  1  –  1

Scoring Summary
1. GCU. Gianna Gourley 6 (Lindsey Prokop 3) 14’
2. UNM. Jadyn Edwards 5 (unassisted) 60’
3. GCU Leah Pirro 1 (Aleisha Ganief 2) 65’

Stats:
Shots: UNM 10, GCU 18
SOG: UNM 3, GCU 10
Corners: UNM 4, GCU 9
Saves: UNM 8 (Davis 6, Droitsch 2), GCU 2 (Ferguson 2)
Fouls: UNM 13, GCU 10