by Josh Shainin
Daily Lobo
Kristen Winters wanted to make sure her final game at the UNM Soccer Complex was a memorable one.
The goalkeeper for the UNM women's soccer team had three saves, and UNM won its second-straight game Saturday night, beating the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs 1-0. The Lobos beat Air Force 2-1 last Saturday.
"It makes me sad knowing that I'm leaving, so I don't want to have a bad game or anything," she said. "You want to end on a good note, and so it kind of gets your adrenaline going a little bit more than usual."
The win improved UNM's record to 6-6-4 overall, and 3-3-1 in the Mountain West Conference.
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The Lobos also boosted their record to 5-1-1 all-time against TCU, which joined the conference this year.
UNM's two-game winning streak - tied for its longest of the season - comes at just the right time, as UNM's next game will be in the MWC tournament.
Head coach Kit Vela said the Lobos can do some damage in the tournament, which starts Wednesday.
"We don't care," she said. "We'll play anybody. Good final game of the season - regular season. Let's go to the tournament and win the tournament."
Despite winning with only one goal, the Lobos dominated play Saturday night against TCU. UNM had seven corner kicks, while TCU was only able to manage one corner kick the entire evening. The Lobos also took 12 shots - nine coming in the second half - compared to TCU's seven shots for the game.
The game remained tied at 0-0 until the 71st minute, when Kaela Kelly got control of a ball sent into the box and punched home the game-winning goal.
"It (the team's performance) was above average," Vela said. "That's a tough team to play. They don't play very good soccer. It's very direct, very dangerous, so I thought we played pretty well considering that."
Saturday night was the final regular-season game for three Lobos - goalkeeper Kristen Winters and defenders Nicole Pitcock and Nicole McCarty.
TCU ended its regular season with a record of 6-10-0, and 1-6-0 in the MWC.
The Horned Frogs' head coach Dan Abdalla was upset with the outcome of the game, chucking his clipboard in the final two minutes and punching the shelter over the bench.
"I think it was a battle of two average teams that were just sloppy, and it was going to come down to whichever team was able to take advantage of the opportunities," he said. "We lost a game to a good team. We battled. We fought. The ball just didn't bounce our way. That's all - it happens in this game."
