After a surge near the end, the UNM women's soccer season came to a screeching halt following a 3-2 loss to the BYU Cougars Thursday afternoon at the MWC Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The sixth-seeded Lobos were undoubtedly the underdog going into the game, as the second-seeded Cougars beat the Lobos 5-1 in the regular season.
Both teams headed into the semifinal round with momentum and confidence. The Cougars were coming off a 2-0 win over the Air Force Falcons in the quarterfinals Wednesday and the Lobos upset the University of Wyoming Cowgirls.
UNM's Kristen Winters and BYU's Ashley Smith kept the nets clear through the entire first half of Thursday's game.
The Lobos got on the board first when forward Amy Nelson took a pass from redshirt sophomore Nicole McCarty to find the net from 10 yards out in the 45th minute.
But the Cougars matched the score and then topped it by two more and ran away with the lead.
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Defender/midfielder Aleisha Rose, MWC Defensive Player of the Year, struck first for BYU as she hit the back of the net from 12 yards out to tie the score at 1-1.
Forward Lydia Ojuka then hit two in a row in the upper left corner of the Lobos' goal to give the Cougars a 3-1 advantage late in the game.
UNM didn't lose focus, however, and got its second strike from freshman midfielder Kellee Hafner with five minutes remaining.
With less than a minute left in the match, UNM had a chance to even the score but missed a free kick that sailed over the Cougars' goal and out of bounds.
Under head coach Kit Vela, the Lobos are 3-3 in post-season conference play. Vela is in her third season at UNM and before Thursday's loss she was the coach with the most wins in the last three years of the MWC conference tournament.
Wednesday, the Lobos eliminated the third-seed Wyoming Cowgirls in a 2-1 double-overtime win.
After the Cowgirls opened scoring in the 68th minute, sophomore forward Kellisha Rendell evened the score for the Lobos, scoring off a deflected shot from 15 yards out in the 77th minute.
Junior forward Coco D'Angelo secured the win for UNM after a 30-minute scoreless stretch. D'Angelo took a pass from senior midfielder Erchen Theys in the sixth minute of the extra period and scored from the far post.
Thursday, Theys was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-District second team. The Belgium native is a business marketing major with a 3.8 GPA.
Theys has scored 29 career goals for the Lobos and has bragging rights on four game-winning goals.
The Lobos finish the season 3-12-4, 2-5-1 in conference.
The winner between Utah and UNLV will face the Cougars in the MWC championship match tomorrow at noon.
