After a 2-0 loss on Sunday against the Utah State Aggies, the Lobos dropped to fifth place in the current conference standings — two spots lower than last week’s rankings.
The Lobos (6-5-2, 4-2-2 Mountain West) have three more conference games before the end of the season. They will host the Colorado State Rams (4-12-0, 2-6-0 Mountain West) and Wyoming Cowgirls (9-6-1, 7-1-0 Mountain West) at the Lobo Soccer Complex this weekend.
UNM will then finish its season on the road at San Diego State (12-3-1, 7-1-0 Mountain West).
Head coach Kit Vela said she wants to focus on one game at a time and doesn’t want to look past Colorado State on Friday night.
“We’re just looking at it saying it’s another opportunity to play and another opportunity to put things together the way we should,” she said. “Two more home games, which is fantastic, but really Friday is important to start putting everything together.”
Vela said she is extremely happy with where her team is at right now on the season.
“We’ve been really, really good but again, we make youthful mistakes,” she said. “We’ve played well enough to come back in certain games but I don’t know if mentally we’ve believed enough.”
If the tournament started today, the Lobos would face Utah State for the second time this season. USU knocked out the fourth seeded Lobos on penalty kicks in last year’s conference tournament.
This will be Alexis Leyba’s last chance to play in front of a home crowd and she said it is definitely going to be emotional walking off of that field for the last time.
“It actually just hit me yesterday and I kind of broke down a little bit,” Leyba said. “I’m going to be emotional, I know that, and I know my team is going to be there to support me. It’s just something that you don’t want to end.”
Vela said looking forward to the Mountain West Conference Tournament, the team is close to its full potential.
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“We feel like were on that verge of something really special and the conference tournament allows you to have more opportunities for that,” she said. “I think if we get on a roll, anything is possible with this group. They’re that good.”
Final conference standings will be released after the season concludes on Oct. 31.
The Mountain West Conference Tournament begins on Tuesday, Nov. 4 in San Diego, California.
Kyle Tomasi is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @KyTo22.
Women’s soccer vs. Colorado State
Friday, 7 p.m.
Vs. Wyoming
Sunday, 1 p.m.
UNM Soccer Complex
