Traditionally, the New Mexico women’s soccer team has not fared well against the Big Ten Conference. The Lobos will try to buck that trend this weekend.
In its final two non-conference games before Mountain West play begins in early October, UNM travels to the Midwest to battle Big Ten members Minnesota and Michigan State over the weekend.
The Lobos have won only two of their 10 meetings all-time against the Big Ten, most recently capturing a 3-0 win in 2010 against Nebraska. UNM has never beaten either Minnesota or Michigan State in five attempts.
Lobo head coach Heather Dyche acknowledged that her team has a big weekend ahead of them, going up against one of the best soccer conferences in the country. Not only did the Big Ten produce the College Football Playoff champion in Ohio State last season, it sent three teams to the second round of the NCAA women’s soccer tournament – Penn State, Rutgers and Wisconsin.
“The Big Ten is, right now, the top conference in women's soccer, so these two teams are very competitive, good teams and they're used to playing at a high caliber,” Dyche said Tuesday. “So, we're looking forward to traveling there and giving it a go.”
UNM and Minnesota share one common opponent on their respective schedules: Texas Tech. The Lobos dropped a 1-0 decision to the Red Raiders in the opening weekend while the Golden Gophers settled for a scoreless draw last weekend.
Despite that loss to Texas Tech, Dyche said that her team gave itself opportunities to finish and that the fact that Minnesota tied Texas Tech could serve as motivation to beat the Gophers.
The team is also riding high after a 4-1 victory over Idaho State on Sept. 3. The outcome was a 180-degree turn after the Lobos' 0-4 loss to Colorado. The victory against Idaho also saw the emergence of sophomore midfielder Claire Lynch as the team’s leading scorer in the early stage of the season with two goals.
UNM also found balanced scoring in its win against Idaho State with goals from junior midfielder Maddie Irwin, redshirt sophomore forward Quincy Slora and senior midfielder/forward Lindsey Guice.
“I thought the Idaho State game they started to find themselves and really make better decisions,” Dyche said. “I'm hopeful that's a trend that carries on. It really has been in training, but it's finding a rhythm and finding a flow.”
So far Minnesota (3-1-2) has wins over North Dakota State, Marquette and Stephen F. Austin. The Gophers also had a scoreless draw against Kansas. Five different Gophers have scored at least one goal, with forward Simone Kolander netting two.
Michigan State (3-1-1) meanwhile captured wins over Niagara, Baylor and Dayton. Midfielder Kirsten Evans is the lone Spartan with two goals on the season; six players have one.
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UNM will take only 18 players on the road trip. One who will miss it is senior defender Olivia Ferrier, who injured her ankle in the opener against Florida State and has not been cleared to play. The team does return junior midfielder Ruth Bruciaga, who was out for two and a half weeks to a concussion but has cleared those protocols.
The Lobos also benefited from a long Labor Day weekend off, which Dyche said helped quite a bit in her training regime.
“We can actually teach as a coaching staff because we haven't been able to do that for a while, so the things that we've been wanting to fix we haven't really had a chance to fix other than talking about it,” she said. “You see tweaking a few things, and it's becoming evident in the way that they're playing.”
J.R. Oppenheim is the managing editor for the Daily Lobo. Contact him at managingeditor@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
