ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos head on the road to face Grand Canyon on Saturday night at 8 p.m. MT on MW+.
UNM enters the match 5-2-2 on the season, 2-0-0 in conference with GCU 4-2-4 and 0-0-1 in conference.
SERIES VS. GRAND CANYON
UNM is 4-1-0 all-time against GCU, 1-0-0 on the road.
In the previous five matches, the Lobos have outscored GCU 10-3 with three shutouts.
The Lobos won 4-1 in their last meeting with the Lopes on Oct. 9, 2025, leading 3-0 at the half and added a fourth goal in the second half before GCU scored a late goal.
Kennedy Brown opened the scoring 19:10 in with Alysa Whelchel and Nicole Anderson also scoring a goal in the first half. Whelchel later assisted on the fourth goal to finish with three points and Anderson assisted on Whelchel’s goal to finish with three points.
The lone meeting in Phoenix was Sept. 11, 2021, a 2-0 Lobo win with the Lobos scoring two goals in the first 17 minutes.
CLOSING SEPTEMBER WITH MOMENTUM
The Lobos opened conference play and closed the month of September going 2-0-0, outscoring their opponents 8-2 and with a shutout over San José State.
Through the first week of conference play, Presley Devey leads the MW in points with six, ahead of UNM’s Fiona Jenkins and Nicole Anderson who are tied for second with five each. In addition, Devey is tied for the conference lead in goals (two) and in assists (two).
In the month of September, the Lobos scored 14 goals with nine assists, led by Devey scoring four goals and Anderson with three. UNM had seven different goal scorers. Of the 14 goals, the Lobos scored 11 in the second half.
ALL THE LOBOS NEED IS 15 MINUTES
The Lobos scored three goals in a span of 15:16 for the 3-0 win in the conference opener over San José State and three goals in 15:21 to take the lead against Nevada on Sunday.
The trio of Nicole Anderson, Alysa Whelchel and Presley Devey were responsible for all three goals in UNM’s win over San José State on Thursday, with Devey assisting on two goals, Anderson scoring two with an assist on one and Whelchel scoring a goal and assisting on a goal.
Anderson finished with a season-high five points, assisting on Whelchel’s goal before recording a brace, her second of the season and fourth of her career. Thursday also was the fifth multiple-goal match of her career.
Devey assisted on Whelchel’s goal and on Anderson’s first goal for the fourth and fifth assists of her career, a career high for assists in a match, and first two assists of the season.
Whelchel assisted on Anderson’s second goal, with Whelchel finishing with a season-high three points and was the third time with three points in a match in her career.
Trailing 2-0 at the half, Fiona Jenkins scored UNM’s first goal at 46:34 with Devey scoring twice, 5:29 apart at 56:26 and 61:55 (penalty kick), to give the Lobos the lead.
Jenkins added a second goal for UNM’s second brace of the match on a penalty kick, UNM’s second of the match, at 67:29 and Claire Royal added a late goal on a header off of a corner kick at 83:31 with Jenkins credited with the assist.
Jenkins finished with a career-high five points in the match with her two goals also a career high.
Anderson drew two fouls in the box to create two penalty kick opportunities for the Lobos, with Jenkins drawing one that she converted.
REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM
There are several ties to GCU on the Lobo staff, starting with Head Coach Karley Nelson who played at GCU. Nelson appeared in 35 matches with 25 starts for the Lopes between 2008 and 2009, scoring four goals and recorded three assists in 2008.
Assistant Coach Tom Hurdle began his coaching career at Grand Canyon in 2011 as a graduate assistant, graduating from GCU in 2011 with a B.S. in marketing and a M.B.A. and M.S. in leadership from GCU in 2014.
Assistant Coach Carmen Esnal was a goalkeeper at Grand Canyon, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in education with a physical education emphasis in 2013, later earning her master’s degree in business administration in 2015.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
GCU is 4-2-4 on the season and is coming off of a 1-1 draw against UNLV to open conference. The Lopes share two common non-conference opponents with the Lobos in CSUN (won 3-0) and Northern Arizona (tied 1-1).
The Lopes opened the season with wins over Arizona and Buffalo and defeated CSUN and Eastern Washington. GCU’s losses have come to Texas and Idaho and have draws with UC Irvine, Long Beach State, Northern Arizona and UNLV.
Grand Canyon is outscoring opponents 13-6, with a 7-2 margin in the first half, and outshooting opponents 151-11. Leading the team in scoring is Ellie Johannes and Sophia Rubano with three goals each, with Amanda Adams leading with four assists.
Three players have started all 10 matches in Elle Stanley, Piper Carlson and Adelaide Wolfe with seven players starting in nine matches.
Emma Knack has started nine matches in goal, allowing five goals with 24 saves, while Bryanna Perry has appeared in three matches with one start and allowed one goal with 10 saves.
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.