New Mexico forward Alesia Garcia was tripped up in the box late in Friday night's Rio Grande Rivalry match. And as she laid face down with the crowd holding its collective breath, the referee pulled a yellow card out his pocket and hoisted it into the air as the call was met with a loud chorus of cheers.
Last season, it was New Mexico State enjoying some late game heroics — scoring in the final minute of the match to stun the University of New Mexico women's soccer team. But the Aggies got a taste of their own medicine this time around, as Garcia stepped up and drilled a penalty kick 74:03 into the match to give the Lobos a 1-0 lead.
“Honestly I didn’t think I was taking it — I thought (Jennifer Muñoz) was," the freshman said. "She said '(Alesia) go' and I was like ‘okay.’”
Muñoz is one of the senior captains on the team and Garcia said it meant the world to her that she and othershad that kind of confidence in her ability with the game on the line. But she has already shown she has the propensity to step up when the stakes are at their highest — it has resulted in the striker having game winners to her credit already.
The penalty kick wasn't the only good-looking scoring opportunity in the match — it's just neither team was able to capitalize on those early chances. Pace of play seemed to be disjointed on both sides and each squad probably lamented what could have been while in the locker room at the half.
UNM goalkeeper Emily Johnson and NMSU goalie Ashley Martin both recorded three saves in the first half, swallowing up some clean attempts and seeing some close calls go just wide or a little high of the goal.
One of New Mexico's best chances came when Jadyn Edwards appeared to have a golden opportunity with the first half winding down. Martin came out of the net to meet the ball, but was beat to it by Edwards. The freshman forward side stepped the goalie and tried to finesse the ball into the goal. Fortunately for NMSU, another defender was able to recover and deflect the shot just enough to knock it off track and record a team save.
UNM head coach Heather Dyche said she was not pleased with the first half effort of her team, as New Mexico State seemed to be a step quicker — beating the Lobos to 50-50 balls and outshooting UNM 13-6 in the opening period.
"I think as a team we were pretty disappointed with our effort in the first half and that's really disappointing because that is something we can control," she said. "I thought they had more heart than we did in the first half."
The head coach said the Lobos probably had four open net chances that were missed. Maybe those shots go in on any other night, but they failed to execute them on Friday, which is particularly uncharacteristic of the team at home.
Dyche said missing shots is a often a technical issue — something that is probably easier to correct than having a tactical issue, such as not creating those opportunities in the first place.
Sophomore defender Sara Lucero echoed her coaches' sentiment about the way things unfolded in the first half. She said it was a focal point of discussions at halftime and thought the team executed much better afterward.
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“I think in the first half our flow was a little off, so we kind of had to regroup and get our effort back to where it should be and take our chances more,” Lucero said. “And I think we did that really well in the second half.”
One thing that remained consistent was strong goalkeeping at both ends of the field. Freshman keeper Malia Vanisi entered the game for UNM after halftime, which has been customary for she and Johnson to split time.
Garcia said she thought the defense benefited from staying compact on the back three, which also allows them to be in constant communication with the goal keeper. Johnson said she and Vanisi are each other's biggest fans and praised their ability to support one another.
The duo combined for the team's second shutout of the season — both of which occurred at home. Martin was stingy all evening, but the lone blemish that resulted from Garcia's penalty kick spoiled her five-save effort on the night.
New Mexico showed improvement in its ability to salt away the game compared to how things were handled in the final stages of the a win over UTEP last weekend, in which it surrendered a late goal. UNM protected the net and milked the clock by maintaining possession for most of the remainder o fate match to hold on for a 1-0 victory over New Mexico State.
Dyche said the goalkeeping dynamic is something she has been pleased with, although it is sometimes hard to figure out which player she wants to start.
"To me, I think they are both playing outstanding. We committed at the beginning of the year that — regardless of the result, we were going to play them both," the head coach said. "Now that we are getting into conference, that might change a little bit."
Having two capable goalies in their arsenal could come in handy though, especially since both are gaining valuable experience along the way as the Lobo season progresses.
New Mexico will open up conference play with another pair of home matches next weekend. The Lobos will host Colorado State on Friday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a matchup with Wyoming on Sunday, Sept. 23 at 12:30 p.m.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers basketball and baseball and contributes content for various other sports as well. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Robert_Maler.
