Lobos Head to Colorado State Thursday
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— With three conference matches remaining, the Lobos head out for their final regular season road trip this week, starting with Colorado State on Thursday night.
Colorado State enters the match 10-3-3 on the season and tied for first in the conference with a 6-0-2 record, going 2-0-2 at home. For UNM, the Lobos are 7-4-4 on the season with a 3-3-2 record and 11 points, sitting in the all-important sixth place to qualify for the Mountain West Tournament.
UNM went 1-0-1 last week with a 3-0 win against Fresno State and a 1-1 draw against San José State in the homestand, while Colorado State beat UNLV 2-1 and Nevada 1-0 last week.
In the last five matches, CSU has gone 3-0-2 and is unbeaten in its last nine matches with its last loss to Denver on Sept. 12. The Lobos are 2-1-2 in their last five matches and are unbeaten in their last four matches.
SERIES vs. COLORADO STATE
The Lobos are 9-2-1 against the Rams, 5-1-0 in Fort Collins. Coach Dyche is 7-2-1 all-time against CSU, 4-1-0 at CSU.
UNM is 3-1-1 in the last five meetings, with a 1-0 win the last time the two teams met in Fort Collins on Sept. 26, 2021.
Six of UNM’s wins have been shutouts and four of the wins have been one-goal finals. Both times the Lobos have lost to the Rams have been by one goal (3-2 in 2023 and 1-0 in overtime in 2019).
UNM has outscored CSU 24-9 in the series, twice scoring four goals in a match for the most goals scored by either team in the series.
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 a goal in three matches and an assist in three matches for 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 six matches.
Five Lobos have played over 90% of the minutes this season: Kennedy Brown (1250’), Fiona Jenkins (1269’), DeGagne (1259’), Taryn Robles (1233’) and Callie Droitsch (1349’) with six playing over 1100 minutes.
Six Lobos have started all 15 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.
Last week, Jenkins recorded her first career point on an assist against Fresno State and followed that up with her first career goal against the Spartans to lead the team with three points on the week.
FRESHMAN JOINS THE DEFENSE FIRM
Ashley Moody has joined the starting lineup as of late, starting the last nine matches and playing a total of 821 minutes, including six matches of 90 minutes.
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 eight starts, Moody has played 90, 87, 90, 90, 90, 90, 90, 88 and 45 minutes.
DEVEY DELIVERS
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 (41) and shots on goal (17) and is tied for first in assists (three).
Devey is averaging 1.13 points per match, 2.73 shots per match, 0.47 goals per match in 948 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 second in the MW in goals (four) and in goals per match (0.50). On the season, she is fourth in goals and in goals per match. Her 17 points are tied for third in the conference, but her points per match is fourth 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 14th by any player.
SOPHOMORE SHOWCASE
The Lobos feature eight sophomores on the roster and of them, four have started all 15 matches, two have started 14 and one has started seven.
Fiona Jenkins, Nicole Anderson, Callie Droitsch (redshirt) and Kennedy Brown (redshirt) have started all 15 matches as a sophomore with Jenkins playing 1269 minutes, Droitsch playing 1349 minutes in net and Brown playing 1250 minutes. Anderson has played 904 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 14 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 1166 minutes in her first season with the Lobos with 14 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.
KEEPING IT CLEAN WITH CALLIE
Called on to start in net in all 15 matches this season, Callie Droitsch has answered with 46 saves and six clean sheets, including in two of the last three 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 five matches.
Her first shutout came in the second match against UC Riverside, which also provided her first win.
She was named MW Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 14 for her first weekly accolade after making 10 saves and allowing one goal between the two matches.
UP NEXT: The Lobos travel to Wyoming to face the Cowgirls on Sunday at 1 p.m. MT.