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UNM women’s soccer coach Kit Vela hit a career milestone Friday night in the Lobos’ 1-0 victory over MWC opponent Boise State.
The win gave Vela 100 victories as a head coach, all during her 12-year stint with the Lobos. However, Vela said she would rather the focus be on her team getting its first conference win of the season.
“We’re 1-0 in the conference,” she said. “It’s a nice 100th win for the program, but we’re in conference starting off the way we want to.”
UNM (7-4-1, 1-0 MWC) won its seventh game out of twelve total so far this season, its fourth win in a row.
The Lobos extended their unbeaten MWC streak to 15 games (11 wins, four ties) and unbeaten home streak to 11 games (9 wins, two ties). The Friday victory set a school record in the latter category.
“You want to start the conference any way you can with a win,” Vela said. “This is our first game at home in a while. It’s nice to get the win.”
Senior forward Stephanie Rowe scored her fourth goal of the season at the 68-minute mark. Rowe increased her career total to eight goals and netted her third goal in a row in the last two games.
She scored both goals in a 2-0 win against UC Davis on Sept. 23.
After UNM played a scoreless first half with Boise State (5-8-1, 0-1 MWC), senior forward Natalie Jenks took advantage of a Bronco clearance miscue, meaning the goalie made a mistake when punting the ball back into the game after a save. The clearance went off Jenks to Rowe, who fired the ball from six yards away off the left post and into the net.
“That strictly came from teamwork,” Rowe said. “There was a lot of combination play and then me putting that extra effort at the end.”
Rowe’s four goals give her a share of the team lead in goals scored. Senior midfielder Rachel Montoya also has four goals on the season. The assist is Jenks’ third in 2012.
“I’m happy for whoever scores,” Rowe said. “I’d be just as happy when the next girl scores.”
UNM played stout defense in the first half, limiting Boise State to three shots with none on goal. For the game, the Lobos had 17 shots with six on goal, while the Broncos fired 15 shots with four on goal.
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Senior goalie Kelli Cornell saved all four Boise State shots on goal for UNM. She increased her saves total to 31 and earned her fifth shutout in her last six games. Broncos goalie Maddy McDevitt tallied five saves.
Vela said she expects more challenges as the MWC schedule progresses.
“The conference is like this every year. I don’t care what year we’re talking about or what it looked like the last two years,” she said. “We were fortunate to be unbeaten because the conference has been brutal. This is no different.”
