The Lobos Women’s soccer team will kick off their Mountain West Conference schedule this weekend, as they hit the road to face Utah State on Friday and Boise State on Sunday. While the Lobos record doesn’t look great right now, they played well in all but one of the games, including three 1-0 losses. The Lobos look to start the conference season off well today when they face a very solid Utah State team Friday afternoon. Utah State won the match last year 2-0 in Albuquerque, so the Lobos are certainly looking for a better result. The Lobos are also looking to continue the success on the road in conference play from last year, where they didn’t lose a single road conference game, going 4-0-1.
Match Up: The Lobos have had some difficulty scoring so far, being shutout in four of the seven matches they’ve played and scoring only one goal in two other matches. A reason for this is likely because of the tough schedule they have played thus far. The Lobos have definitely had their chances to score, at least, outshooting their opponents by almost four shot a match and having almost one more shot on goal per game. The Lobos need to find a few goal-scorers that will be able to find the back of the net at a consistent clip. On the defensive side, the Lobos have given up 11 goals in the seven matches, but that is a little misleading since seven of those goals came in two matches. The Lobos backline has been good this year, giving the Lobos a chance to win most of the games.
Utah State Aggies have had almost a mirror image of a season so far, as they are being outshot by six shots a match but have outscored their opponents 15-8. The Aggies, unlike the Lobos, have made the most of their opportunities so far this season, which has lead to their 5-3-1 record. It will be interesting to see how this game is played this afternoon. If it is played in open space and the Lobos have many opportunities to score, they need to take advantage and put pressure on the Aggies, because it seems likely that the Aggies will do the same to the Lobos if given the chance.
Players to Watch: The players to watch for the Lobos are all the attacking players. They have had difficulty making the most of their scoring opportunities, which doesn’t seem unique to this year. In fact, last year the leading goal-scorer only had four goals. With a win, the Lobos can use this game to build confidence and start to redefine their season, as the conference play is just beginning. The Lobos need seniors Dylann O’Conner and Madisyn Olguin to be the ones to take the lead and begin to score goals for this team.
For the Aggies, it is very simple for who the player to watch is. Junior forward Jessica Brooksby is off to a fantastic season, having already scored seven goals for the Aggies. Not only is that a career best for her, that’s more goals than she had scored in her first two seasons combined. The Lobos must be able to contain what she does on the attack and make other players try to beat them. If the Lobos backline can control Brooksby, look for a Lobos win.
Prediction: I really don’t have a feel for this game, as with the different schedules that the two teams have played so far it’s difficult to get a feel for their relative abilities. That said, I would put the odds of the Lobos starting off the conference season with a win at 37% and ending a game with at least a draw at 60%. I feel that this match will have a lot of scoring chances and the final result will come down to the team that makes the most of their chances. My score prediction for this game is a 2-2 draw. This should be an exciting game to watch and to see how the Lobos were able to prepare with their two-week break between matches.
Game Info:
Who: New Mexico (2-5-0) At Utah State (5-3-1)
Where: Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field, Logan, Utah
When: Friday September 25 at 4 PM MT
How to watch: utahstateaggies.tv