FRESNO, Calif.— The Lobos close out the second week of Mountain West play at Fresno State on Sunday at 12 p.m. PT/ 1 p.m. MT. The match will be streamed on the Mountain West Network with live stats available.
Both team enter the contest following a 1-1 draw on Thursday with the Lobos tying at San José State and the Bulldogs tying against San Diego State. UNM is 5-2-3 on the season, 1-0-1 in the MW, with Fresno State 4-3-4, 1-1-1 in the MW and are statistically very similar.
The Lobos and Bulldogs are the top-two offensive teams in the MW with UNM scoring 22 goals and with 64 points and FS second at 20 goals and 59 points. Both teams have taken 170 shots to share the conference lead, an average of 17 shots per match for UNM and 15.45 for FS. Further, both teams are first and second in assists at 20 (New Mexico) and 19 (Fresno State).
Historically, UNM is 8-3-4 all-time against the Bulldogs, 3-1-2 on the road. The Lobos have won three of the last four meetings with the last eight meetings ending in either a Lobo win (five times) or a tie (three ties).
IT’S A DRAW
Alèjandra Puerto picked up where she left off in the Mountain West opener, scoring the opening goal of Thursday night’s match at San José State in the 53rd minute, with the Spartans answering in the 60th minute for the 1-1 draw.
Sherry Diep and Nicole Anderson set up the goal 52:55 in with Diep finding Anderson on the far side of the field. Anderson turned and dribbled to the corner, gaining a step on her Spartan defender, turning the corner and crossing the ball into the box with a streaking Puerto getting her left foot on it and sending it bottom left corner for the goal.
It was the senior’s seventh goal of the season and the first career assist for Diep and the first assist of the season and the fourth career assist for Anderson.
The Lobos outshot the Spartans 35-4 in the match, with 13 shots in the first half and 22 in the second half, compared to one for the Spartans in the first and three in the second. Of the 35 shots, seven were on target with Alysa Whelchel taking eight shots and three on goal and Anderson taking 12 shots with two on goal.
Was the fifth consecutive draw with the Spartans, third consecutive time drawing 1-1 and fourth time in the five year span drawing 1-1.
Of the six matches played in the Mountain West on Thursday, four ended in a tie, including Fresno State, who tied 1-1 with San Diego State.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
Heading into their 11th match of the season, the Lobos are on pace to surpass their production from last season.
The Lobos have scored 22 goals to date with 20 assists, with the Lobos scoring 23 goals with 17 assists last season. The Lobos are averaging 6.4 points per match with UNM averaging 3.5 last season.
In addition, the Lobos have taken more shots this season, averaging 17.0 per match compared to 14.4 last season and 7.4 shots on goal per match compared to 6.1 last season.
WHERE THEY STAND
As a team and individually, the Lobos rank amongst the best in the Mountain West and the NCAA in several statistical categories.
To date, UNM is: 40th in points per match (6.4), 43rd in assists per match (2.0), 70th in goal differential (10), 41st in scoring offense (2.2), 43rd in shots on goal per match (7.4), 31st in shots per match (17), 70th in total goals (22), 77th in total points (64) and 71st in total assists (20).
On an individual level, Fiona Jenkins leads the NCAA in assists per match (0.88) and is 12th in total assists (7), while Savanah Sanchez and Gabby Beaudry are tied for 88th in GWG (2). Alèjandra Puerto is 23rd in goals per match (0.7) and 40th in total goals (7) and Nicole Anderson is 11th in shots per match (4.4) and 50th in SOG per match (1.67).
UNM is first in the MW in points (64), goals (22), goals per match (2.2), assists (20), shots per match (17) and goal differential (10), as well as tied for first in shots (170).
Puerto is tied for first in the MW in goals, but leads in goals per match, and is tied for second in points (14). Jenkins leads the conference in assists (7) and assists per match (0.88) with Celina Frenz and Allie Anderson tied for sixth in assists (3).
DEFENDERS GO THE DISTANCE
The Lobo defense has been a display of stamina, with five defenders playing the full 90 minutes multiple times this season.
Allie Anderson and Morgan Juran have played 90’ in seven matches, Ashley Moody in six, Fiona Jenkins in five matches, and Kennedy Brown has played 90’ in the last nine matches this season.
Juran (845), Anderson (830) and Brown (871) have all played over 92% of the minutes, with Brown leading and playing in over 96% of the minutes.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Fresno State is 2-1-2 in its last five matches with a win at Nevada (3-0), a loss at UNLV (1-0) and a draw with San Diego State (1-1). The Bulldogs have scored 20 goals to date, led by five goals and 13 points from Alexis Campbell. Campbell shares the team lead in assists with Katie Morris with three.
The Bulldogs have had 13 different goal scorers this season and 12 different players credited with an assist. Of their 20 goals, 11 have occurred in the first half.
In net, three Bulldogs have made an appearance, led by Shivani Battaglia at 10 matches and 754 minutes, making 37 saves and allowing 10 goals. The Bulldogs have allowed five goals in both the first and second half and have outshot opponents in both halves, 78-57 in the first half and 92-54 in the second half.
FS shares four non-conference opponents with the Lobos in UCSB (lost 2-0), Texas Southern (won 3-0), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (won 4-0) and Oregon State (tied 1-1).