by David J. Chavez
Daily Lobo
The UNM women's soccer team rolled in the UNLV Adidas Classic to improve its record to 3-1 on the season.
The Lobos began the weekend with a 2-1 win over Oakland on Saturday. Senior Kristine Sweat handled the scoring for UNM with two goals.
On Monday, the Lobos held UC-Irvine scoreless for a 3-0 victory. UNM had a more balanced attack with three different Lobos putting points on the board.
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Sweat scored along with Asha Richardson and Markee Nobriga to round out the UNM goals.
The Lobos got off to a slow start and were held scoreless in the first half of Monday's game. They came out strong offensively in the second half to help get the victory.
UNM head coach Kit Vela said the team was tired from the first game but fought through it for a win.
"In the first half, we showed that we were a little fatigued," Vela said in a phone interview. "In the second half, we just came out showing a will to win and a desire to play well."
In the 63rd minute, the Lobos scored their first goal when Kellee Hafner sent the ball to Sweat, who knocked it in.
The teams then battled back and forth, with the Anteaters blasting three shots at UNM's goal in a span of 12 minutes but failing to get one past goalkeeper Shannon Adragna.
Junior Terryn Granados delivered a corner kick, and Richardson scored the goal to put the Lobos up 2-0 in the 74th minute.
With the game coming to an end, UNM scored off a corner kick when Krista Peterson launched the ball to Nobriga for a header past goalkeeper Erin Henry to push the score to 3-0.
Vela said the team should have scored more considering the chances it earned.
"We had one of our better first halves in a while," she said. "We were very dominant, but we only scored one goal (in the first half) for as hard as we worked and all the opportunities we had."
In Saturday's game against Oakland, the Lobos overpowered the Grizzlies offensively by outshooting them 17-3. Sweat scored her first goal of the season in the 22nd minute to put the Lobos ahead 1-0. She scored from five yards out off an assist from Amber Wetsch.
UNM controlled the field for the entire first half with 10 shots and six corner kicks compared to none by Oakland.
In the second half, the Grizzlies came out determined and scored a goal on their first shot of the game to tie the score at 1-1.
The Lobos buckled down on defense and allowed only two more shots by Oakland for the rest of the game.
The game-winner came in the 55th minute when Sweat fired another goal past Oakland goalkeeper Kim Berbst on an assist from Granados.
Vela said the team's younger players are slowly but surely getting better.
"We are finding our rhythm and style with every game we play in," she said. "Our young players are getting some good opportunities to play, and the seniors are doing really well in leading our younger players."
