Lobos Begin October on Road at Boise State Thursday
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos begin October with a four-match road trip, starting with Boise State on Thursday night at 7 p.m. MT.
Thursday’s match will be streamed on the Mountain West Network with live stats available.
UNM enters the match 5-2-2 on the season, 1-1-0 in conference while BSU is 8-2-1, 1-0-1 in conference following the opening weekend. The Lobos dropped their conference opener against UNLV (3-0) before winning 5-2 against Nevada and the Broncos defeated Fresno State 1-0 on Thursday before a 1-1 draw with San José State on Sunday.
SERIES vs. BOISE STATE
The Lobos are 9-5-2 all-time against the Broncos, 4-4-0 in matches played in Boise.
BSU won the last meeting between the two teams, a 2-1 decision in Albuquerque, which snapped a three-match win streak for the Lobos. In the 2023 match, UNM had a 23-13 edge in shots and 9-6 in shots on goal with Sophia Roberts scoring in the 68th minute.
Under Coach Dyche, the Lobos are 4-4-2, but 3-2-0 in Boise.
The series has been evenly matched in goals scored with BSU holding a narrow 19-18 lead.
UNM has seven clean sheets against BSU, has been shutout four times and is 7-3 in one-goal matches. Only once in the series has the match ended in a 0-0 draw (2016 at home).
WAVE ON WAVE
In UNM’s win against Nevada on Sunday, the goals came in waves with a pair of goals being scored within minutes of each other in both the first and second half.
Presley Devey got the scoring started at the 4:11 mark, with Morgan Juran finding Devey towards the arc at the top of the box, who turned to her right and sent a shot to the top right of the net off of her left foot. It was Juran’s first career assist and the fastest goal scored this season by a Lobo, topping the goal Devey scored at the 5:22 mark on Sept. 1 against San Diego.
Devey made it two goals less than two minutes later (5:59) off of a Nevada turnover, with the Lobo forward finding space and firing from distance, getting a little bit of luck as the ball hit off the left post, hitting the back of the Wolf Pack goalie and going into the back of the net to make it 2-0 in the first six minutes.
The goals came in pairs again in the second half as Nicole Anderson recorded her first brace at 54:46, starting with a free kick by Callie Droitsch, who sent it past midfield and eventually was won by Alysa Whelchel, who passed it ahead to Anderson who was breaking towards the middle of the field and the goal, with the Lobo getting a right foot on it and sliding it bottom left and past the outstretched hand of the Nevada keeper to make it 4-0.
A cross from Fiona Jenkins to Devey in the box at 56:16 led to Devey being taken down and the Lobos being awarded a penalty kick with Devey stepping up to take it. She notched the hat trick with a shot to the bottom right of the net for her team-high sixth goal of the season.
GOING BACK THROUGH THE RECORD BOOK
It took some digging, but the Lobos achieved something that hadn’t been done since 2008 on Sunday with Nicole Anderson and Presley Devey scoring multiple goals, the first time UNM had two multiple-goal scorers in a match since Sept. 28, 2008 against Central Arkansas (Kate Wyrick and Zaneta Wyne).
Additionally, Sunday was the first time the Lobos have scored five goals against Nevada since Oct. 14, 2018 (5-1) and the most goals scored since Sept. 9, 2021 when the Lobos scored six goals against NAU.
Devey became the first Lobo to record a hat trick since Jadyn Edwards did it against Cal State Bakersfield in 2022.
JURAN, JENKINS AND ROBLES WILL DEFEND YOU
UNM defenders Fiona Jenkins, Morgan Juran and Taryn Robles have been a solid and steady presence on the pitch with Jenkins playing 751 minutes this season and started all nine, 696 minutes for Robles who has started eight matches, and Juran at 717 minutes, who has started the last eight.
Jenkins has played 90 minutes in seven matches, Juran in five and Robles in four.
The Lobo defense didn’t allow a shot by UC Riverside until the 55th minute and just one shot on goal, and allowed just one shot on goal again against San Diego. UNM allowed just five shots against USD and six against UCSB and New Mexico State.
During the six-match unbeaten streak, the Lobos held opponents to 52 shots, 17 on goal, and allowed two goals. In the first half of the matches, opponents took a total of 24 shots, while the Lobo offense outscored opponents 4-1. UNM also shutout five of the six opponents in the final 45 minutes.
FRESHMAN JOINS THE DEFENSE FIRM
Ashley Moody has joined the defense of late, starting the last three matches and playing a total of 329 minutes, including two matches of 90 minutes.
The freshman made her first appearance against UTEP on Sept. 8 and playing 62 minutes, followed by her first start at Northern Arizona on Sept. 19, where she played the full 90.
In the last three starts, Moody has played 90, 87 and 90 minutes.
SOPHOMORE SHOWCASE
The Lobos feature eight sophomores on the roster and of them, four have started all nine matches, two have started eight and one has started seven.
Fiona Jenkins, Nicole Anderson, Callie Droitsch (redshirt) and Kennedy Brown (redshirt) have started all nine matches as a sophomore with Jenkins playing 751 minutes, Droitsch playing 809 minutes in net and Brown playing 735 minutes. Anderson has played 543 minutes and has four goals on the season, the second most on the team, and has the second-most points on the team with eight. Whelchel has started eight matches and has three assists and five points, with her assists tied for the most on the team and her points tied for third. Juran has played 717 minutes in her first season with the Lobos and recorded her first career assist against Nevada for her first career points.
For Samantha Corrie, Whelchel and Droitsch, their first collegiate starts came this season.
In each match this season, the Lobos have started either six or seven sophomores with six matches with seven sophomores starting. In the NAU match, with freshman Ashley Moody starting, the Lobos had a total of eight underclassmen starting.
WHAT’S TRENDING
Presley Devey has scored the game-winning goal in three matches (UCR, Oregon, San Diego), Ellie Robinson in one (vs. UTEP) and Nicole Anderson in one (Nevada).
Natalie DeGagne has recorded an assist in three matches and has a point in four matches this season with a goal in the season opener.
The Lobos have used six different lineup variations this season.
Four Lobos have played over 90% of the minutes this season: Kennedy Brown (735’), Fiona Jenkins (751’), DeGagne (744’) and Callie Droitsch (809’) with five playing over 700 minutes.
Six Lobos have started all nine matches this season: Devey, DeGagne, Nicole Anderson, Brown, Jenkins, and Droitsch.
UNM had four field players play the fulltime against UCSB: Jenkins, Morgan Juran, Taryn Robles and Natalie DeGagne, with Droitsch also going the length of the match in net. Robles, Brown and Juran played the full 90 against UTEP, as did Droitsch and Jenkins, Ashley Moody, DeGagne, Brown and Juran played the full 90 at NAU with Droitsch playing the full 90 in net. In the last match against Nevada, UNM had three players play the full 90 in defenders Robles, Jenkins and Ashley Moody.
THE WINNING RECIPE
In four of UNM’s wins, the Lobos scored first in the match and have held a lead at the break. Only in the UTEP match did the Lobos have to come from behind.
In addition, the Lobos have outshot opponents 49-16 in the first 45 minutes and 44-29 in the second 45 minutes for a 93-45 edge (18.6-9.0 average) in shots in the wins.
When it comes to shots on goal, the Lobos have outshot their opponents 39-14 in that category.
UNM led for 79:08 in the match against UCR, 84:12 in the match against Oregon, 84:38 against San Diego and 85:49 against Nevada, for a total of 333:47.
In both the Oregon and San Diego matches, the Lobos scored in the first six minutes with Alysa Whelchel scoring at 5:48 against the Ducks and Presley Devey scoring at 5:22 against USD. Devey also added another goal against Oregon at 9:10, a goal against UC Riverside at 10:52 and scored two in the first six minutes against Nevada, meaning six goals scored in the first 11 minutes of the matches.
Callie Droitsch allowed two goals during the six-match unbeaten streak with four clean sheets, making 15 saves, including a career-best six in the match against NAU.
In UNM’s wins, Devey has scored six goals with one assist for 13 points, Nicole Anderson has scored four goals and Alysa Whelchel and Ellie Robinson have each scored one.
UNM has already matched its win total from last season with at least nine matches left to play.
DEVEY DELIVERS
As noted previously, Presley Devey scored a goal in three-straight matches, with all three being the game-winner.
Devey recorded her first hat trick against Nevada on Sept. 29, finishing with a career-high six points on three shots on goal and did so in 43 minutes of playing time.
She leads the Lobos in points (13), goals (six) and shots (27), is second in shots on goal (11) and is tied for third in assists (one). Devey is averaging 1.44 points per match, 3.00 shots per match, 0.67 goals per match in 502 minutes.
The Lobo’s 13 points this season more than triples her point total from last season and her goal total triples her goals last season, doing so in nine matches, doing so in fewer shots on goal than last season (12 last season, 10 this season).
Devey is tied for first in the MW in goals and leads in goals per match (needing one fewer game to get six than Denise Castro, who has six goals in 10 matches). Her 13 points are tied for second in the conference, but her 1.44 points per match leads all players in the conference. Her three game-winning goals is the most by any player in the MW.
Nationally, her three game-winning goals is tied for 19th by any player, her goals per match is 37th in the NCAA, her points per match is 60th and her total goals is 67th.
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
There have been several firsts for some Lobos this season:
Alysa Whelchel scored her first career goal against Oregon with Presley Devey contributing on the goal for her first career assist.
Kennedy Brown recorded her first point on an assist against San Diego on Sept. 1.
Callie Droitsch, Samantha Corrie and Taryn Robles all made their first career start in the season opener at New Mexico State.
Droitsch earned her first win, a shutout against UC Riverside.
Devey finished with three points in the Oregon match to set a career high, which she later topped against Nevada on Sept. 29 with a career-high three goals for a career-high six points and her first hat trick.
Ashley Moody made her collegiate debut in the match against UTEP on Sept. 8 and made her first collegiate start in the next match at NAU, playing the full 90 minutes. She has since started the last three matches, twice playing 90 minutes.
Devey played a career-high 74 minutes in the match at NAU and 59 minutes against UNLV. She needed nine matches to surpass her career high in minutes in a season (465:09 last season, 501:05 and counting this season).
Ellie Robinson recorded her first game-winning goal against UTEP on Sept. 8 and finished with a career-best three points in the match.
Alejandra Puerto made her first appearance as a Lobo against UNLV on Sept. 26, playing 27 minutes.
Nicole Anderson recorded her first brace against Nevada on Sept. 29, scoring in the 29th minute and in the 55th minute for a career high in goals and points for the sophomore.
After missing the last three seasons due to injury, Fatso Williams made her first appearance as a Lobo in the Sept. 29 match against Nevada, coming in to replace Callie Droitsch in goal for the final 1:26.