by Riley Bauling
Daily Lobo
The UNM women's soccer team ended the first road trip of the season with a hard-fought 3-0 loss to the Purdue Boilermakers on Sunday.
The score was far from indicative of the fight the Lobos put up against a Purdue team that made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament last season. UNM held the Boilermakers to one goal for 85 minutes until some late-game risks by the Lobos allowed Purdue to sneak in two more goals in the waning minutes of the game.
"It was an even game in every aspect," head coach Kit Vela said. "We took some risks at the end to try and score, and they just didn't pay off. Once we gain more experience, we should be able to benefit from those risks."
UNM placed second in the Boilermaker Challenge Cup after its convincing 2-0 win against Cincinnati on Saturday. Lobos Brittany Emerson, Ashley Lowery and Kristen Winters were selected to the All-Tournament team.
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Their lack of experience was one of the reasons the Lobos faltered late against the Boilermakers, who are no strangers to important games according to Vela.
"We're young, and I can't say that enough," she said. "Purdue is a really good, experienced team, and they are used to playing in close games and performing well the entire game."
The Lobo defense features four sophomores. Goalkeeper Winters, a junior, was one of only four upperclassmen to play in the game.
UNM had opportunities to score, as their nine shots can attest. The Boilermakers finished the game with 16 shots.
Vela was extremely pleased with the way her team as a whole performed over the weekend.
"All 11 players on the field gave stand-out performances," she said. "We are a blue-collar, working-class team that plays together. It just ended up not working out the way we wanted in this game."
An arduous beginning to the season showed the Lobos just what the team is capable of. Vela said she is excited to see what results a little confidence in a young team will be able to produce.
"We are starting to realize that we can perform with the top teams," she said. "We can win against good opponents as long as we just keep working hard this season."
The weekend was still a positive start to the season for UNM, considering the best previous start the Lobos had was in 2000 when they went 2-0.
The Lobos are back at home this weekend. They will face a Portland State Viking team on Friday that was picked to finish fifth in the Big Sky conference. Then on Saturday, the Lobos will face Big-12 competitor Texas.
