Lobos' rematch with San Jose State to cap Wednesday soccer tourney twin bill
Nov. 2—The UNM Soccer Complex should be buzzing Wednesday, when host New Mexico (7-3-8, 5-1-5) faces San Jose State (8-6-5, 6-3-2) in the nightcap of a Mountain West Conference tournament semifinals doubleheader.
The Lobos tied for the regular season title, earned the tourney's second seed and had a bye Sunday. San Jose State prevailed in a hard-fought 1-0 win over Colorado College. The day's other winner, San Diego State, survived an epic 22-round penalty-kick shootout with Utah State to get to Wednesday's meeting with top-seeded Wyoming.
"I'm really proud of our team for winning another championship, and they have had to fight and claw for every result we've gotten," said UNM head coach Heather Dyche, who leads her team into the playoffs for the seventh time in her eight-year tenure.
A lot of the fighting and clawing UNM did has resulted in ties, of course. The 0-0 home draw in the Lobos' last appearance, last Thursday at home vs. the Aztecs, assured UNM of its share of the championship. And in the lone meeting with the Spartans this season, UNM and SJSU battled to a 1-1 draw Oct. 9 at the UNM Soccer Complex.
"They are very consistent and bought into a system," Dyche said of San Jose State. "You have to find ways to break them down, and our goal will be to be a little more dynamic than we were the last time we played them."
In fact, the Spartans' goal in that matchup, on Oct. 9, is the last UNM has ceded. Since then, UNM has shut out five opponents in a 3-0-2 finish.
NEW MEXICO STATE: After the winningest regular season in program history, the Aggies program has been rewarded with a flurry of postseason honors. Seven players were named to the All-Western Athletic Conference team announced Tuesday.
Midfielder Loma McNeese becomes the first Aggie to earn All-WAC first-team honors since 2017. She leads the Aggies with nine goals and 23 points.
Makenna Gottschalk, Landy Williams, and Xitlaly Hernandez were named All-WAC second team, and Jena Johannes, Sofia Beerworth, and Sydney Johnson are on the Freshman All-WAC team.
New Mexico State (10-4-3, 7-2-2) has won six of its last seven heading into its Wednesday WAC tournament game in Seattle vs. California Baptist (8-4-5, 5-3-3) at 5 p.m. ESPN+ is streaming.
Wednesday
Mountain West women's soccer semifinals, UNM Soccer Complex: No. 1 Wyoming vs. No. 5 San Diego State, 4 p.m.; No. 2 New Mexico vs.
No. 3 San Jose State, 7 p.m. (Both games streaming at themw.com.)
Tickets: Golobos.com
Western Athletic Conference semifinal, Seattle: New Mexico State vs. Cal Baptist, 5 p.m., espn+ (streaming)
