Lobos Extend Win Streak Against Aggies After 3-1 Victory
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos faced adversity in Sunday’s rivalry showdown with New Mexico State, falling behind early and playing a player down for almost 30 minutes, but prevailed with three unanswered goals for the 3-1 victory.
With the win, New Mexico extended its win streak against the Aggies to four and the all-time series advantage to 11-1-0, 6-0-0 in Albuquerque. UNM has won the last four matches against NMSU by a combined score of 8-2, and historically has outscored NMSU 22-4. During Coach Heather Dyche’s time at the helm of the program, UNM has outscored NMSU 11-3.
All three goals scored by the Lobos came from first-time goalscorers in Albuquerque native and sophomore Mercedes Morris, sophomore Presley Devey and senior Myah Isais with assists from Margaux Clarke, Natalie DeGagne and Paris Dalton, respectively. For Clarke and Dalton, it was their second assists of the season and the first for DeGagne.
The Aggies started with some early momentum, scoring on their first shot of the match at the 1:59 mark, but the Lobos quickly responded with a goal by Morris after the Lobos forced a turnover deep in Aggie territory. Clarke took the initial shot at 4:30, which was saved by the Aggie goalkeeper, but took the keeper out of position with Morris collecting the ball and sending it into the top of the net for the equalizer.
Sophia Roberts had a good look in the 29th minute that was wide left before the Lobos took the lead in the 36th minute off of a laser from Devey. Isais got the play started with a header that was headed further up the field by DeGagne, falling to Devey around midfield. The Lobo turned, took two dribbles and fired towards the goal, sending a scorcher over the Aggie goalkeeper’s head and into the net to make it 2-1.
UNM continued to pressure NMSU in the 43rd minute as Skye McMillon sent a shot from the right edge of the 18-yard box towards the goal, hitting off the crossbar with Courtney Fernau in position to take a shot on goal, which was saved by the Aggie netminder, but fell back to Fernau who passed to Sariah Brady, with the Lobo sending an attempt high over the goal.
The Lobos took a 2-1 lead into the break, the first time this season that the Lobos have led after the first 45 minutes and held a 12-6 advantage in shots and a 6-5 edge in shots on goal.
Devey had a chance to add to the lead in the 58th minute on a shot from the top of the box, forcing the NMSU keeper to make a diving save to her left, but did set up a corner kick that led to the third Lobo goal. Dalton took the corner and served up a strike to Isais, who headed the ball to the right corner and past the diving goalie into the net.
With Isais’ goal, the Lobos have had seven different goal scorers this season.
Holding a 3-1 lead, UNM faced its second test of the contest after Kennedy Brown was shown a yellow card at the 61:10 mark, her second of the match, forcing the Lobos to play the remainder of the match with 10.
For the remainder of the match, the Lobos held tough allowing the Aggies just two shots, only one of which was on goal, before the final whistle secured the win. Those two shots were the only shots allowed by the Lobos in the final 45 minutes with UNM holding a 3-2 advantage in shots and all three shots by the Lobos being on goal.
At the conclusion of the match, the Lobos outshot the Aggies 15-8 and 9-6 in shots on goal with Alli Davis making five saves to give the redshirt sophomore an even 100 career saves and needing only 25 matches to get there.
The Lobos head into conference play 3-1-2 and are off until Sept. 21 when they face San José State on the road.
POSTMATCH NOTES
-With the win, the Lobos improve to 11-1-0 all-time against the Aggies, 6-0-0 in Albuquerque.
-UNM has won the last four matches against NMSU by a combined score of 8-2.
-The 3-1 final on Sunday matches the final from the last time the two teams met back in 2021 in Las Cruces.
– Ellie Robinson returned to the starting lineup, making her third start of the season.
-UNM had eight players record a shot on goal, led by two from Presley Devey (tying her career high). Devey also led with a match-high three shots.
-Sunday was the fourth time this season that the Lobos have outshot their opponent and the nine shots on goal tied the season high (also had nine in win against Cal State Fullerton).