ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— A season opener delayed by weather didn’t damper a celebratory evening Thursday as New Mexico defeated Northern Arizona 2-0 for Head Coach Karley Nelson’s first win as the Lobo leader.
UNM scored two goals within 47 seconds as Nicole Anderson opened the scoring on an assist from Sherry Diep with 18:39 on the clock and Presley Devey doubling the lead on an assist from Alysa Whelchel.
NAU held an 18-9 edge in shots with seven on frame, forcing goalkeeper Alyson Campbell to make five saves with two team saves for the clean sheet, her fifth solo shutout as a Lobo.
The Lumberjacks’ first shot came one minute into the match, going wide right with the Lobos taking their first shot in the 12th minute with Devey’s shot going wide left.
After a brief stoppage for an injury, the NAU keeper put the ball in play on the restart, with the ball settling around midfield at the feet of Diep. Diep located Anderson up field with one NAU defender in the area and kicked it ahead with the Lobo forward gaining a step on the Lumberjack, tracking it down, took two dribbles towards the middle of the box and shot it low left past the diving NAU goalkeeper.
It didn’t take long for the Lobos to find the back of the net again as a steal by Allie Anderson led to the Lobos moving the ball back into their offensive third of the field. N. Anderson pushed it up the field, finding Kennedy Brown, who found Diep, who passed it to A. Anderson. A. Anderson ultimately chipped the ball into the box with a Lumberjack heading the ball down and directly to Whelchel with the ball ricocheting off of Whelchel and directly to Devey, who turned with her left foot and slid it bottom right for the goal.
For N. Anderson and Devey, it was their 14th and 11th career goals, respectively, and for Diep and Whelchel, their second and seventh career assists, respectively.
The score held through the half with Campbell making three saves and the team making a save in the 22nd minute after a corner led to an initial save on a header, and the Lobo defensive line of Brown, Devey, Morgan Juran and Campbell keeping the loose ball out of the net.
UNM took four shots to NAU’s eight, with three on goal for UNM and four on goal for NAU in the first 45 minutes.
NAU looked to get on the board in the 50th minute, but a late offside call wiped the goal off the board. Shortly after, N. Anderson had a chance to add to her goal total on the evening in the 51st minute as the Lobo sidestepped her defender outside the 18-yard box with the NAU keeper coming out. With an empty net, N. Anderson dribbled once to her right and shot low right, going inches wide.
The Lumberjacks had another opportunity to cut into the Lobo lead in the 60th minute off of a corner kick, with a header going low right, but Angelina Moschetti got her right foot on it and cleared it with her left. Campbell made two final saves with the last one coming with 53 seconds remaining to secure the shutout.
With the win, Nelson becomes just the second Lobo head coach to win in their coaching debut, the other being Amy Allman, who won her first match and was the first match in program history. However, the 2-0 win marks the greatest margin of victory in a coaching debut.
UNM (1-0) remains at home to host Gonzaga on Sunday at 1 p.m. MT.
HOW TO WATCH
The match, as well as all home and MW matches will be streamed on the MW+ this season, while admission to home matches will be free. Fans can sign up for MW+ at https://golobos.com/watch.