by Thomas Romero-Salas
sports@dailylobo.com
The UNM women’s soccer team will finish its monthlong road trip when they play two SEC opponents this weekend.
The Lobos (2-3-1) will face off against the Georgia Bulldogs today and play the Florida Gators on Sunday.
Head coach Kit Vela said both SEC schools are among the best in the country. Florida (2-2-1) is ranked No. 24 in the nation by the NCAA.
“Two big-name schools both have incredible facilities, teams and are always somewhere in the top 30,” Vela said. “We’re in a situation finding ourselves and finding our rhythm. They’re both going to be competitive games.”
The Lobos play the Bulldogs (4-2) in Athens, Ga. then travel to Gainesville, Fla. to take on the Gators. The total combined distance the Lobos will fly exceeds 3,000 miles.
Vela said the Lobos are taking the eastern trip as a trial run for a conference swing out west later in the year.
“One of the reasons we did the trip – it is a difficult trip, we don’t go east very often – is this year in conference we have a similar trip going west,” Vela said. “We go to Fresno State then we go to UNLV, so we’re trying to emulate it as well as we can.
Georgia and Florida are two of the biggest names in the country in every respect to athletics and we took the opportunity in a lot of different ways.”
The Lobos are coming off their first two wins of the season, a 4-1 victory over Southern Methodist University and a 2-1 double overtime win against Texas last weekend.
The win against the Longhorns was the first time the Lobos came back from a halftime deficit since 2004. During that stretch, the Lobos were 0-21-5.
Vela said the wins were crucial entering the last leg of the road trip.
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“Obviously, we’re very pleased with the results,” she said. “Two very good opponents in SMU and Texas, and the girls fought hard in both games. I think they did a very good job staying with it and finding a way to win at Texas in a big tournament with Virginia (University) being the fourth team.”
Sixth-year senior Jordan Craig, who had the game-tying and game-winning goals against the Longhorns, said the road trip has been taxing.
“It’s definitely hard to travel four weeks in a row, and it takes a lot out of you,” she said.
Vela said the entire trip has made the team a stronger unit and the freshmen have gotten plenty of exposure because of it.
“It’s been very unifying. We’ve had several freshmen on the road on all the trips and they’re getting experiences they couldn’t have experienced anywhere else in the country, in the sense of how far we’ve had to travel. The unity is coming together, which is what we’re looking for going into Georgia. You can’t describe those experiences until you get there, and with those seven freshmen, they are opening their eyes to a whole different world.”
