New Mexico has a couple different scenarios to lock up a No. 2 seed in next week’s Mountain West women’s soccer tournament. The one guaranteed way: beat San Diego State this Friday.
A win is not 100 percent imperative for the Lobos to earn that crucial first-round bye. UNM sits one point ahead of San Jose State for second place. Even if UNM matches the same result San Jose State gets in its finale against Fresno State, the Lobos will finish second in the regular season and play in next Thursday’s semifinal round.
However, UNM does control its own destiny. A win over SDSU ensures the Lobos (9-7-1, 7-2-1 MW) will be seeded second regardless of how Fresno State finishes.
“To be a conference champion and have to win two games is significantly easier than trying to be a conference champion and win three,” UNM head coach Heather Dyche said, referring to the benefit of the first-round bye. ”You're talking about having to win three games in five days. It's just brutal for your body.”
While UNM has the benefit of dictating its conference tournament situation, coming away with a win over San Diego State won’t be easy. The Aztecs have emerged as the perennial front-runner, capturing the last three conference regular-season and tournament titles. They’ve already claimed the top seed for this year’s tournament as well.
SDSU (13-4-0, 9-1-0 MW) plays a possession-oriented style of soccer and likes to maintain a solid attacking shape, Dyche said, much like UNM saw against Florida State in the season opener. The Aztecs are the only team in the Mountain West to average more than two goals per game (2.12). No other team averages more than one and a half per game.
The Aztecs also feature one of the three best scorers in the league in Leah Pruitt, who has nine goals on the year. She also leads the Mountain West with nine assists.
“They want to keep the ball, so that's been the good part about our nonconference schedule being so difficult,” Dyche said. “I can go into a locker room and say we've seen it. We've seen every style in the book. I feel pretty confident the kids will know how to react to it.”
The Lobos offense, meanwhile, has come into its own over the last several weeks. Dyche said she started utilizing an extra forward on the attack, a move that has been paying dividends after a stretch where the Lobos struggled in the offensive third. They’ve scored in every game since, including five times against Fresno State and three times against Air Force.
Forward Madisyn Olguin also cracked the top 10 with her sixth goal last season, two coming against the Falcons. She’s tied for seventh with eight other conference players. Midfielder Dylann O’Connor has also been a main contributor on the Lobo offensive, sitting in a five-way tie in assists with five.
It could potentially be difficult for either team to score in this game. San Diego State has surrendered the fewest goals in the league this season with a .76 goals allowed average, while the Lobos rank third in the MW at 1.12.
SDSU’s Melanie Vaughn and New Mexico’s Cassie Ulrich are first and second, respectively, in shutouts. Vaughn has seven while Ulrich, tied with San Jose State’s Zoe Makrigiannis, has five this season.
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Friday’s game will be Senior Night for seven seniors in Ulrich, Olguin, O’Connor, midfielder/forward Lindsey Guice, forward Korynn Blanksma, defender Olivia Ferrier and midfielder Alyssa Coonrod.
Dyche said she and her staff will keep an eye on the Fresno State-San Jose State game. It’ll be hard not to. Yet, it’s up to her team to take care of business against SDSU.
“And the worst place we could finish is third, which is not a bad place to be because you're on the other side of the bracket from San Diego State,” Dyche said. “We're pleased with where we are but our goal all season is to be an NCAA team. It's just stepping stones.”
J.R. Oppenheim is the managing editor for the Daily Lobo. Contact him at managingeditor@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim.
