Coming off an 8-5-4 record last year, the UNM women's soccer team solidified its third straight winning season.
The team also made history in the process - it was the first time UNM had three consecutive winning seasons.
Head coach Kit Vela said it's an accomplishment, given the youth and inexperience her team had last season.
"We didn't get to the Mountain West Conference tournament - that was disappointing," she said. "But one point (separated) the first-place team and the sixth-place team. The seventh-place team was us. It gave us something to fight for."
The Lobos, who have yet to win a game this season (0-1-1), will battle Baylor, which is also winless (0-1-0).
The Lobos are 5-13-2 against the Big 12 conference. The last time the Lobos beat a Big 12 team was in 2004, when UNM defeated Texas Tech.
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Youth movement
This year, the Lobos return 16 players and welcome 15 newcomers.
Of the new signees, Vela said she has been impressed with true freshman Jennifer Williams.
In her first collegiate game against Denver, Williams managed a goal. In addition, she has created scoring opportunities for her teammates. Last week against Northern Arizona, Williams parlayed a Lumberjack turnover into a cross for midfielder Alexis Ball. Ball lined up the crosshairs and fired. Her rebound was punched home by Hannah Hand.
Despite having a small stature at 5-feet-2-inches, Williams brings an added element the Lobos are
desperately looking to capitalize on, Vela said.
"She brings speed, attitude, great vision. She's good with the ball," Vela said. "She's just a competitor."
Although Williams has been laden with compliments from Vela and her teammates, she admits being a tad intimidated.
"There's definitely intimidation because everyone's bigger than me," she said. "But when I'm out here on the field, it's just playing with the girls; it's just another game of soccer. That's how I approach it every day."
Besides adjusting to the size and speed of the college game, Williams was forced to adjust to the surroundings.
"The altitude burned my lungs," she said. "But I've gotten used to it pretty quick."
Williams is from California and played for Canyon Springs High School.
Hand ball
Hand, a forward, is now 12 assists shy of tying alumna Laurie Hegedorn for the all-time assist record at UNM. Hand has 11 assists, collecting one in UNM's season-opener against Denver.
Along with scoring goals, UNM must stop teams from putting balls in its net. Luckily, the Lobos return fifth-year senior Shannon Adragna, who will be mining the net for the Lobos. In 2007, Adragna allowed only 12 goals in 14 games.
"The expectations are always high in my book," Adragna said.
Adragna said half the battle is maintaining focus.
"I'd say you touch the ball for a whole two minutes in the entire game," she said. "But it's 99 percent mental. It's so incredibly hard to keep yourself in the game, to keep yourself focused for when your team really needs you."
While UNM appears to have a strong corps of returning and freshman players, Vela declined to speculate on how the season will play out.
"I don't think soccer is a game where you can say, 'We're going to win this; we're going to lose this,'" she said. "We play UCLA (Sept. 21). On paper, they should beat us, but I wouldn't say they're going to."
