The University of New Mexico women's soccer team has had one of its most successful campaigns at home and continue to take care of business over the weekend.
New Mexico (10-5-2, 6-2-2 MW) improved to 8-1-1 at home — the most wins at UNM Soccer Complex since the 2013 season. The team notched eight home victories that season as well, but also played an additional five games in Albuquerque to get there.
The Lobos started the weekend in the upper half off the Mountain West standings, but likely needed at least one win to stay there. UNM picked up two and appears to be in good shape with just one regular season game remaining before the Mountain West Tournament.
UNM started things off by shutting out Air Force 2-0 on Friday evening, breaking through with two second-half goals to down the Falcons. The Lobos followed up that performance with a 2-1 victory over Colorado College on Sunday.
New Mexico outshot Air Force 15-5 in the first half, including 4-1 in shots on goal, but could not seal the deal on any scoring opportunities. Air Force goalkeeper Jennifer Hiddink made a couple of saves and benefitted from a pair of team saves as well to keep things scoreless through the first 45 minutes.
But the Lobos' persistence paid off early in the second half, when freshman forward Alesia Garcia capitalized on a golden opportunity. A Falcon defender was able to get a body on a Cami Floth pass that was sent into the box, but the ball bounced right into front of Garcia — who was already winding up to blast it into the net.
Hiddink tried to come out to meet the ball, but it was too late as Garcia aimed the ball to the right side of the goal and put the Lobos on the board early in the 51st minute and give her team a 1-0 lead.
Air Force experience more bad luck when Hiddink came out to make another save later in the half. Jessica Nelson sent a high-arcing flip throw into the box and Jenna Killman attempted to play the ball off bounce. Hiddink stuffed the original shot attempt, but could not clear the ball. Gwen Maly ran in to clean up the rebound and sent the loose ball into the goal for a 2-0 lead to ice the game with less than four minutes remaining in the match.
Junior goalkeeper Emily Johnson recorded a clean sheet and registered the first solo shutout for a UNM goalie this season. She saved both Air Force shot attempts on goal.
Johnson went the distance against Colorado College as well, yielding the opening goal of the match but also tallied four saves over the course of the match to make a come-from-behind victory possible.
The Lobos played their opponent to a scoreless tie in the first half again on Sunday, and much like Friday, UNM seemed to dictate the pace. New Mexico outshot Colorado College 12-5 in the opening period, including 4-1 in shots on goal, but saw another solid performance from opposing keeper Jade Odom.
Colorado College provided Odom a 1-0 cushion when the Tigers' Jacqui Hand finished a goal that was assisted by her teammate Tayla Wheeler in the 48th minute.
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New Mexico got a huge break about midway through the second half and tied the game off a deep shot attempt. Mackenna Havenor uncorked a shot from well outside the box and Odom appeared to somehow fail to come up with what looked to be a routine save. The goal evened things up at 1-1 with 66:02 of time in the books.
Johnson made a crucial save about seven minutes later, laying out and fully extending her body to knock down a shot attempt by Lucia Constanza to preserve the score.
Her teammates rewarded that effort and notched what proved to be the game winner in the waning stages of the game. For the second game in a row Killman saw a goalkeeper save one of her shot attempts, but witness a teammate stick with it and finish things off.
Odom's save ricocheted off her hands and bounced just out of her reach. On Friday, it was Maly that recorded the put back — this time it was Jill Olguin, who darted in to meet the ball and beat a diving goalkeeper. The goal occurred in the 87th minute again and helped the Lobos avoid overtime and walk away with a 2-1 victory.
New Mexico will finish the regular season with a visit to San Diego State on Friday, Oct. 26. The match is scheduled for a 8 p.m. start time.
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.
