NM State Aggies vs Houston Soccer 9-17-17

I feel like I may have been unduly harsh the last time I wrote about going to a match.  Honestly, if it was just about watching the girls play, I’d be there, without complaint, win or lose.  I’m a bigger fan of just about any other sport I frequent, but live soccer is reasonably interesting in person.  Unfortunately, it is the peripheral parts of the sport here that make it unpleasant, specifically two things.  The soccer stadium is not a great place to watch anything.  While the softball stands might actually be worse, I at least like that sport a lot.  The sun and the heat just gets brutal on those metal stands.  (Another thing is that it’s hard to see action on the other side of the field.)  The other irritation is the fans there, which I’ve gone on at length about.  Nowhere else are they this bad (even the old man).  I’m having a hard time reconciling the sport and the experience.  Just to be clear, any future decisions on attendance are not a reflection on the girls and their play.      

I was going to this Sunday’s game.  First, I’m on vacation, and I want to be able to say I went a few places while I was gone.  Second, it was mentioned on the Aggie Coaches’ Show that there’d be a free t-shirt giveaway.  I had on my Chihuahuas’ t-shirt and hat though, that I had on yesterday (with an Aggie button).  You have to respect the streak.  There was a tailgater in the parking lot when I pulled in.  That’s good to see.  I got a hot dog at the stand that might have been leftover from last night’s football game.  (I should have gotten two drinks instead.)  Then I got my free shirt, “Los Aggies Futbol.”  Hmm, somehow I feel like I might not be in their target demographic.  Actually, I don’t think I’ve heard anybody speaking Spanish in the stands either.  Well, beggars can’t be choosers.  I’ll take it and wear it another day.          

In the bathroom, a couple of guys were talking about yesterday’s football game.  One was agitated about a 4 and 1 play.  In the crowd, I saw a kid with a Chihuahuas’ hat.  A lady had on a “Guns Up” shirt with the Rosie the Riveter image.  I’d seen that before at Sports Accessories.  It’s a cool shirt.  A group of tall, athletic, attractive Aggie girls showed up.  I didn’t recognize any of them and their Aggie shirts didn’t say what team they were on.  Track?  Swimming?  Golf?  Tennis?  (Was that Eli Arnaudova girl there?)  The baseball team was there (and might have been there last time as well).  They settled down in front of the stands.  Two girls’ soccer teams were there.  A pretty good-sized crowd showed up, so it was probably a good idea I showed up early for a shirt.    

The PA reported that it was 84 degrees.  Hell might have been cooler.  Much of the crowd was under umbrellas.  The music was bad during the long half-hour wait.  The teams worked out on field.  The referees worked out too, synchronized no less.  For player introductions, the Aggie girls walked out with a little girl’s team.  Jody Hernandez was just barely taller than the little girl she was with.  Aileen Galacia wasn’t starting.  Ashley Martin was back in goal.  On the Coaches’ Show, Coach Freddy Delgado expressed a lot of confidence in her.  The team did win on Friday, 3-2 (I don’t have any other details).  There was a moment of silence before the Anthem for victims of the Houston hurricane flooding.  That was a nice gesture to the Houston team.  They had three away games cancelled on their schedule, probably from heavy hurricane rain remnants.   

The Houston team (again, they didn’t put the team name on the program, maybe they don’t know who these people are either [edit: It's the Houston University Cougars]) had a couple of chances early.  We went five minutes before some calls came in from the crowd.  One loudmouth guy actually got heckled by someone else in the crowd who knew him.  There was another guy behind me who was giving some technical commentary to a girl about the play on field.  He knew his stuff. 

36’ left in the half, Ashley stopped a solid shot on goal.  Spoilers.  The good news for the afternoon was that Ashley did a very good job in the net today.  (Again as I wrote about the last game, I thought she could physically do the job.  She just wasn’t making good decisions then.)  The bad news was that she would get lots of opportunities to prove herself.  It’s going to be too tedious to list all of them.  I’ll just hit the highlights as they come along. 

Shortly afterward, a ball went into the stands.  It got tossed back in but rolled on to the field during play.  A little ball girl ran between the players and grabbed it and ran back.  The Ref didn’t see it.  Seriously, there were two balls in play within 10’ of each other and a little girl between them.  The fans didn’t say anything at the time, but may have mentally questioned the Referee’s attention.  A few minutes later, they spoke up when Cristina Bertoldo got called for a foul.  In fact, it got vicious and profane right out of the box.  I was concerned there were going to be fan ejections (or secretly hopeful).           

Most of the action of the half was in the Aggie end.  Finally at 22’, there was a shot on the Houston goal on a breakaway.  (I’m doubting my notes on who took the shot.)  Just a minute later, the ball was still in the Houston end.  The box area was under-defended and Jody Hernandez managed to take a shot right in front of the net.  GOOOOOAL!  Short players are A-Okay!  1-0 Aggies.

Aileen came in during the stoppage.  She looks so small and slight with an angel face, but has the heart of a lion.  Shortly after coming in, she knocked over another girl to get a ball.  I applauded.  The Referee didn’t see it.  Spoilers.  Unfortunately, this was Aileen’s only highlight of the game.  It wasn’t a good day for the offense.  My notes are again not good.  There was a corner kick.  A couple of headers put a ball over the net.  A player was pushed down in the Aggie box.  I wish I’d done a better job writing this down.

Before halftime, a guy in front of me was recruited by a pretty intern for the musical soccer game.  The PA loves this game.  By the time it was down to two, they were exhausted from running up and down the field.  The PA deeked them out on the music ending, just to mess with them.  Why don’t they have the loudmouths in the stands out there playing, since they seem to know how easy it is to run up and down the field in the heat?  In front of the stands, a couple of baseball players kicked a ball around.  Soccer player, Reilly Marks, who wasn’t playing today, walked by and commented on them.

For the second half, the old man started cheering up a storm.  He continued for the entire half and everybody heard him the whole time.  (If he was chugging from a hip flask, it’d all make sense.)  Nearby, a loudmouth I’m tentatively identifying as one of the girls’ dads also started in on the team in an un-encouraging way.  I’m blaming what happened in this half on them. 

38’ Aileen may have been carded for a foul.  36’ an Aggie was definitely carded, but I couldn’t see the player number.  All this happened on the other side of the field.  31’ Hannah Dauzat of Houston scored on a breakaway.  Ashley had no chance on it.  There was a bad defensive breakdown before it got to her.  1-1.  29’ the Aggies got a penalty shot just outside the box.  They had two fakes before kicking it, but no shot on goal.  28’ Ashley made a great punch save, but the ball stayed in the Aggie end.  On a corner kick right after, Hannah put it in directly.  The ball somehow curled into the far top corner.  It was a heck of a kick.  Again, Ashley didn’t have a chance on it.  2-1 Houston.

27’ Sarina Stockton took a kick to the head and had to come out.  24’ Ashley made a good push save.  A minute later, there was a pass to Hannah wide open in the Aggie box.  She almost got goal #3.  I would NOT have thrown my hat on to the field.  (Or is that just a hockey thing?)  Ashley made three more saves.  Are you sensing that the ball spent a lot of time in the Aggie end this half?  Coincidentally, that’s the furthest you could get on field from the two loudest fans in the stands.

Ooops.  Spoke too soon.  A guy at the other end of stands started growling a loud, “Yo!” on every Aggie misplay.  After what seemed like the tenth time, I was wishing I could call in a sniper team to “service” him.  10’ a ball got kicked over the stands.  No doubt some of the girls on both sides wouldn’t have minded firing balls directly into the crowd by this point.  9’ Ashley blocked a low shot from her knees, but the ricochet allowed Selena Peters an easy shot on an undefended goal.  3-1 Houston.

Oh, yeah.  Thanks, fans.  All that inane yelling really did a lot of good.  Then I missed something awesome on field on the kickoff (or whatever it’s called in the middle of the field) while I was writing down the goal.  Everybody buzzed for a couple of minutes.  I think somebody got run over on field.  I don’t know.  Now, I’m mad. 

4’ Ashley stretched out to push out a roller going for the net.  1’ another catch save.  A Houston player got flattened in the Aggie box.  Before the end, Audriana Chavez took a header so hard, she got knocked off her feet (and she’s one of the bigger players on the team).  The ball went to the other end of the field.  Earlier, another girl headed one so hard, it sounded like hitting a softball with a bat.  I suppose they’ll all be wearing helmets in the future.  Here and now, it’s a 3-1 win for Houston as time expired. 

Here’s your stat of the match, courtesy of the angry dad in the stands.  Late in the match, he kept yelling out the shots on goal count.  By the end, it was 12 to 1.  The Aggies had nearly no offense today.  It might have been mostly Houston’s relentless offense, more than the Aggies’ offensive problems.  Ashley Martin was our easy Aggie player of the game.  She at least kept it close.  Strangely, the crowd and myself didn’t seem to feel too bad about outcome.  The second half was just too overwhelming to feel like a win was in order. 

A handsome fellow in sharp Aggie shirt came down from the top of the stands and asked me if I was scout.  I was probably the only person in the stands taking notes, and I wasn’t wearing an Aggie or Houston shirt.  I told him I was just blogging about the game.  If he’d asked why, I don’t know what I would have told him.  He told me to write up the girls’ good plays.  That was kind of hard today.  His voice sounded familiar.  Was that one of the loudmouths?  He was much more reasonable after the match at least. 

For the remainder of the season, I’ll consider some more games.  We’ll see how it goes with the timing.  They have two games during my next vacation week, but both are during weekdays during the day.  I’d have to get a parking pass.  Once again, they’ve got scheduling issues holding them back, since they don’t have lights.  I hope to see them winning soon.