UNM senior Roxie McFarland lined up to take what might have been the Lobos’ last chance to win the game.
With the scores tied at one on Sunday, UC Riverside gave up a foul just outside of the penalty box with a little over a minute remaining.
McFarland took the shot and drilled it home to give the Lobos an 2-1 victory with 44 seconds left in the game.
“If I’m playing, I’m looking to shoot there,” Vela said. “We know she can, but I don’t want to tell her to hit it because, unfortunately, you have to feel it as a player, and so she just rocked it.”
Senior Jael Fanning said she thought the goal by McFarland was extraordinary.
“It was the most beautiful goal. It was a gorgeous shot and she put it away,” she said. “She did what we’ve been meaning to do for the last couple of games: she put it away when we needed to and got the win.”
The Lobos, now 4-4-2, dominated the game with 13 shots and 11 corner kicks, 10 more shots and 10 more corner kicks than UCR (4-4).
Despite the statistical advantage, Vela wasn’t at all concerned with what transpired, she said she was just happy to get the victory.
“It wasn’t very frustrating; it was more frustrating on Friday when we lost,” she said. “At least we figured out how to get a win and walk away from it and get a little morale boost before next week.”
UNM was the first to strike when freshman Brianna Martinez scored in the 41st minute due to an awkward bounce from the goal post.
Then UCR got a break and scored, thanks to Lindsey Ahmed’s bending shot, to tie it up at 1-1 in the 53rd minute.
Before the game-winning goal by McFarland, the Lobos took eight shots in the second half and missed all of them.
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McFarland said she thought it was a little bit frustrating that the team has so many chances but couldn’t come up with anything.
“We’re pretty patient and we knew it was going to come out. No way can you work that hard and not come out on top,” she said.
The win ends UNM’s three-game losing streak. McFarland said she feels more positive about the future.
“It was pretty big,” she said. “We were looking for it to turn around … We are on the way up; it’s only going to get better from here.”
