RENO, Nev.— After Nevada opened the scoring on a penalty kick 5:18 into Sunday’s contest, the Lobos responded with three unanswered goals for the 3-1 victory.
Nicole Anderson led the Lobos with two goals, scoring at the 20:33 mark and again 37 seconds later to give UNM the 2-1 lead at the break, with Claire Roybal scoring her first collegiate goal with 71:59 on the clock for the final score.
Of note, it marked consecutive braces against the Wolf Pack for Anderson and the third game-winning goal of her career, all of which have came against Nevada.
The Lobos took 12 shots in the match, five of goal, with Anderson taking four shots and three on goal.
Mercedes Morris took the first shot of the match 3:41 in, forcing the first save of the match by the Nevada goalkeeper, but it was the Wolf Pack who found the back of the net first, aided by a handball that set up a penalty kick.
A foul inside the penalty box shortly into the 21st minute set up a penalty opportunity for the Lobos, with Anderson taking it and tying the match, going bottom left past the diving Wolf Pack goalie for her sixth goal of the season.
The tie didn’t last long as Nevada kicked it out of play on the restart, with the Lobos using the near sideline to advance the ball up the field. Allie Anderson started it by throwing the ball in and the ball eventually chipped up ahead to N. Anderson. Anderson passed it ahead to an open Morris, who crossed it into empty space in the box with N. Anderson going unmarked and getting an open look at the goal, sending it again bottom left for the goal. Her seventh goal of the season tied Alejandra Puerto for the team high in goals.
A goal by Puerto in the 29th minute was waived off due to offside to keep the score 2-1, with Alyson Campbell making saves in the 34th minute, 37th minute, 43rd minute and 44th minute to preserve the score at the break.
Nevada outshot UNM 8-7 in the half with Campbell making six saves.
The score held until the 72nd minute with Campbell making two more saves for a season-high eight saves, when Roybal provided some cushion on a goal. A ball into the box by Celina Frenz deflected off of a Wolf Pack defender and found the foot of Roybal, who sidestepped two Nevada defenders to create space going bottom left for the goal.
It was the final shot of the match taken by the Lobos, with Nevada taking a final shot in the 79th minute that was off target.
UNM outshot Nevada 5-3 in the second half for a 12-11 advantage in the match, with the Wolf Pack holding a 9-5 advantage in shots on goal.
With the win, the Lobos improve to 7-2-4, 3-0-2 in the Mountain West. The last time the Lobos went undefeated in their first five MW matches was in 2021 (4-0-1), with UNM also doing so in spring 2021 (5-0-0).
UNM returns home for its final three home matches of the season, hosting Utah State on Thursday, Boise State on Sunday and Wyoming on Oct. 23.