Lobos Host Spartans Sunday
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— With four matches remaining on the MW schedule, the Lobos look to carry their momentum from Thursday night’s win to Sunday, when they host San José State at 1:30 p.m.
UNM is unbeaten in its last three matches with two wins and a tie to bring its overall record to 7-4-3 and 3-3-1 in conference for 10 points. SJSU IS 0-11-4 on the season, 0-5-2 in conference following a 2-1 loss at San Diego State Thursday with the Spartans losing their last three.
Of note, Sunday is the second-to-last home match for the Lobos this season, with the Lobos set to play two on the road next week before closing the conference schedule at home against San Diego State.
SERIES vs. SAN JOSÉ STATE
The Lobos are 3-8-6 all-time against the Spartans, 1-3-2 at home. The last three matches have ended in ties (1-1, 0-0, 1-1). The lone home win was back in 2013, a 2-1 final.
Coach Dyche is 2-6-5 against SJSU, 0-3-2 at home. San José State has outscored UNM 22-15 in the series.
Presley Devey scored an unassisted goal in the 55th minute to give UNM the 1-0 lead last year in San Jose with SJSU tying the match in the 74th minute for the 1-1 final. UNM had the 17-15 advantage in shots with the Spartans having a 6-4 advantage in shots on goal.
WHAT’S TRENDING
Presley Devey has scored the game-winning goal in four matches (UCR, Oregon, San Diego, Fresno State), 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 at Boise State and Air Force.
The Lobos have used six different lineup variations this season, including the same lineup in the last five and six of the last seven matches.
Five Lobos have played over 90% of the minutes this season: Kennedy Brown (1175’), Fiona Jenkins (1191’), DeGagne (1174’), Taryn Robles (1143’) and Callie Droitsch (1259’) with six playing over 1000 minutes.
Six Lobos have started all 14 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 last 40 matches.
KEEPING IT CLEAN WITH CALLIE
Called on to start in net in all 14 matches this season, Callie Droitsch has answered with 41 saves and six clean sheets, including in the last two matches.
The redshirt sophomore twice made six saves in a match for a career high, making six saves in the scoreless draw with Northern Arizona and at Air Force, earning the win.
Droitsch has made five or more saves in four matches.
Her first shutout came in the second match against UC Riverside, which also provided her first win.
DEVEY DELIVERS
As noted previously, Presley Devey scored a goal in three-straight matches, with all three being the game-winner.
Of note, her two goals in the first three matches of the season tied her career best in any of her three seasons (scored two goals last year), and her five points the week of Aug. 22 and Aug. 25 already surpassed her career best in points.
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 (17), goals (seven), shots (37) and shots on goal (15) and is tied for first in assists (three).
Devey is averaging 1.21 points per match, 2.64 shots per match, 0.50 goals per match in 872 minutes.
Her 17 points this season is more than four times her point total from last season and her goal total more than triples her goals last season, doing so in nine matches and doing so in fewer shots on goal than last season (12 last season, 10 this season).
In conference matches, Devey is tied for first in the MW in goals (four) and in goals per match (0.57). On the season, she is tied for second in goals and tied for the lead in goals per match. Her 17 points are tied for third in the conference, but her points per match is second among all players in the conference. Her four game-winning goals is the most by any player in the MW and tied for ninth in program history.
Nationally, her four game-winning goals is tied for 11th by any player.
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.
Whelchel recorded her first game-winning goal at Air Force.
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 eight matches, playing 90 minutes six times.
Devey played a career-high 84 minutes in the match at Air Force. She needed nine matches to surpass her career high in minutes in a season (465:09 last season, 871:18 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 and has appeared in six matches this season.
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.
Devey, Droitsch and Moody all earned their first MW weekly awards this season with an Offensive Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week, respectively.
Fiona Jenkins’ first career point came on an assist against Fresno State on Oct. 17.
HOME IS GOOD TO THE LOBOS
The Lobos are currently 6-1-1 at home, with the six wins the most since 2021. UNM is outscoring opponents 15-7 at home following a 54-23 advantage in shots on goal. UNM is averaging 17.9 shots per match at home compared to 7.9 for opponents. Of the 15 goals, eight have been scored in the first half, seven in the second half.
UNM is 50-22-12 at home under Coach Heather Dyche.
SOPHOMORE SHOWCASE
The Lobos feature eight sophomores on the roster and of them, four have started all 14 matches, two have started 13 and one has started seven.
Fiona Jenkins, Nicole Anderson, Callie Droitsch (redshirt) and Kennedy Brown (redshirt) have started all 14 matches as a sophomore with Jenkins playing 1191 minutes, Droitsch playing 1259 minutes in net and Brown playing 1175 minutes. Anderson has played 853 minutes and has four goals on the season, the second most on the team, and has the fourth-most points on the team with eight. Whelchel has started 13 matches and has three assists and nine points, with her assists tied for the most on the team and her points tied for second. Juran has played 1092 minutes in her first season with the Lobos with 13 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.