Lobos Face Fresno State Thursday Night
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— After two weeks on the road and for the first time since Sept. 29, the Lobos have a home match, set to play Fresno State on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
For those unable to attend, the contest will be streamed on the Mountain West Network with live stats available.
UNM enters Thursday 6-4-3, 2-3-1 in the Mountain West following a 1-0-1 week last week against Air Force (won 2-1) and Colorado College (tied 0-0). Fresno State is 5-6-3 on the season, 0-4-2 in conference after a draw with UNLV and a loss to Nevada last week.
SERIES vs. FRESNO STATE
The Lobos are 7-3-4 all-time against the Bulldogs, 4-1-1 at home.
UNM is unbeaten in the last seven matches in the series, with four wins and three ties, dating back to 10/6/2017.
Coach Dyche is 5-1-3 against Fresno State, 3-0-1 in home matches.
New Mexico has outscored Fresno State 23-18 in the series and 14-8 in home matches, which includes two shutouts.
Last year’s match in Fresno ended in a 0-0 draw with the last time the two teams met in Albuquerque a 3-1 Lobo win that included a goal from Zaria Katesigwa on an assist from Natalie DeGagne.
WHAT’S TRENDING
Presley Devey has scored the game-winning goal in three matches (UCR, Oregon, San Diego), Ellie Robinson in one (UTEP), Nicole Anderson in one (Nevada) and Alysa Whelchel in one (Air Force).
Natalie DeGagne has recorded an assist in three matches and has a point in six matches this season with a goal in the season opener and in two of the last three matches (Boise State and Air Force).
The Lobos have used six different lineup variations this season, including the same lineup in the last four and five of the last six matches.
Four Lobos have played over 90% of the minutes this season: Kennedy Brown (1089’), Fiona Jenkins (1108’), DeGagne (1088’) and Callie Droitsch (1169’) with six playing over 1000 minutes.
Six Lobos have started all 13 matches this season: Devey, DeGagne, Nicole Anderson, Brown, Jenkins, and Droitsch.
UNM had six players play the full 90 against Boise State: Droitsch, Jenkins, Ashley Moody,
DeGagne, Taryn Robles and Brown. Five players went the fulltime at Utah State: Droitsch, Jenkins, Moody, DeGagne and Robles and five played the full 90 at Air Force: Droitsch, Jenkins, Moody, Robles and Brown.
DeGagne has started the last 39 consecutive matches.
SOPHOMORE SHOWCASE
The Lobos feature eight sophomores on the roster and of them, four have started all 13 matches, two have started 12 and one has started seven.
Fiona Jenkins, Nicole Anderson, Callie Droitsch (redshirt) and Kennedy Brown (redshirt) have started all 13 matches as a sophomore with Jenkins playing 1108 minutes, Droitsch playing 1169 minutes in net and Brown playing 1089 minutes. Anderson has played 787 minutes and has four goals on the season, the second most on the team, and has the third-most points on the team with eight. Whelchel has started 12 matches and has three assists and seven points, with her assists tied for the most on the team and her points third. Juran has played 1016 minutes in her first season with the Lobos with 12 starts and recorded her first career assist against Nevada for her first career points, adding another assist at Boise State for the fourth-most assists on the team with two.
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.
DOUBLE THE AWARDS
Ashley Moody was named Mountain West Freshman of the Week and Callie Droitsch earned Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week on Monday for their first MW weekly awards.
Droitsch’s accolade came after recorded one shutout and allowed one goal between the two road matches. The redshirt-sophomore made 10 saves on the week, including tying her career high of six saves at Air Force.
She faced 35 shots on the week, 20 at Air Force and 15 at Colorado College with 11 shots on goal and 14 corner kicks, allowing only one goal for a .909 save percentage. Droitsch made her first save 40 seconds into the Air Force match. Droitsch thwarted another Falcon threat in the 11th minute as a player got free inside the right side of the box with the Lobo keeper using her body to block the shot. Air Force took four shots, three on goal in the first 11 minutes of action to force three Droitsch saves. The Lobo goalkeeper held the Falcons scoreless for the final 65:22 after Air Force took a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute.
Moody made two starts on the week, playing the full 180 minutes for the Lobo defense with the Lobo defense allowing only one goal.
The two awards make three MW awards on the season, joining Presley Devey who won MW Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 26.
FRESHMAN JOINS THE DEFENSE FIRM
Ashley Moody has joined the starting lineup as of late, starting the last seven matches and playing a total of 689 minutes, including six matches of 90 minutes. She has played the full 90 in each of the last five matches.
The freshman made her first appearance against UTEP on Sept. 8 playing 62 minutes, followed by her first start at Northern Arizona on Sept. 19, where she played the full 90.
In her seven starts, Moody has played 90, 87, 90, 90, 90, 90 and 90 minutes.
UP NEXT: Following Thursday’s match, the Lobos host San José State on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.