In the Rio Grande Rivalry game last week, the Lobos seemed to dominate the Aggies and came close to scoring but couldn’t find the net — and late into the game, UNM was punished on a counterattack.
But on Saturday in a game against UTEP, it was the Lobos that finally broke through dramatically.
It was a game with high stakes; both UNM (2-2) and UTEP (0-4) had likely hoped for stronger starts to their seasons.
Both teams fought hard and defended well, but UNM had the majority of the possession and registered 23 shots, with 11 of them on target.
The Miners recorded significantly less shots, seven, and were unable to give UNM sophomore goalkeeper Emily Johnson much trouble. Only two of those shots were on target, and Johnson walked away from the match with her second clean sheet this season.
Despite the dominant shooting display from the New Mexico side, the Lobos were unable to find a way to break the deadlock in regulation. It was the same story as in the previous game: a barrage of shots and an abundance of possession, but no goals.
Early into extra time though, their luck would change.
Sophomore forward Jill Olguin, two minutes into extra time, collected a pass from senior forward Eileen Zendejas and slotted it into the bottom left corner of the net, recording her first UNM career goal. The Lobos were able to protect the lead for the remainder of the overtime and seal their second win of the season.
“This was the first performance of the year that we felt we met our goals as a team,” UNM coach Heather Dacha said in a release. “Our energy was right the entire game.”
The Lobos were without senior forward Claire Lynch but still managed to force UTEP’s junior goalkeeper Alyssa Palacios into making 10 saves—tying her career high tally.
The Miners have now lost their last four consecutive games this season, each in overtime and by a margin of one goal. This was the fourth game in a row to go into overtime for the Miners, an occurrence that has happened just twice before in UTEP program history.
“This is about as a cruel as a soccer season to go through,” UTEP head coach Kevin Cross said in a release. “The defensive side of things is pretty strong. We’ve got to start generating opportunities and putting away the ones we’ve had. The first three games we clearly had opportunities to win; not as much today.”
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The Miners will play their next game in Laramie, Wyoming against Wyoming.
The Lobos will travel next to Seattle where on Friday they will face the University of Portland at 6 p.m. and on Monday against the University of Washington at 1 p.m.
Matthieu Cartron is a freelance sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women’s soccer. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cartron_matt.
