NM State Aggies vs Grand Canyon Lopes Soccer 10-8-17

Wow, I did it.  I went to three soccer matches (10-2-17, 10-6-17) during this vacation.  Two years ago, I would have found this development very unlikely (and my previous self would be slapping my current self).  What can I say?  It’s been kind of fun and certainly been more entertaining than staying home.  Respecting the streak (a win and a tie?  Well, no losses anyway), I wore my “Los Aggies” shirt for a third time.  (I promise to wash it before wearing it again.)    

I could already see a big crowd in the stands forming when I pulled in.  The parking lot was also a bit full.  (I think there was a soccer camp for little kids before the game.)  There was a tailgater there.  I could hear the clack of a BBCorr bat hitting a baseball in the distance at the ball field.  The lines were also freshly drawn on the softball diamond, so there’d be a game there later.  I ran into Marty, who I met at the last game, at the courtesy table.  The girls must have talked her into coming back.  Marty said she’d read my blog, which I doubt because she was still speaking to me.  She called it, “Pithy.”  That’s close.  I’d sum up my 1,000+ posts with a word that rhymes with that, but starts with “Sh.”  She gave me a tube of lip balm that was part of a product line she was selling.  Let’s go ahead and try it now while I’m writing about it.  Whoa!  That is minty.  The label was not kidding.  I feel very kissable all the sudden.      

Though I was sitting near the bottom of the stands, there was a lady in front of me with an umbrella, just about blocking nearly all of the Aggie end of the field for me, including Dmitri Fong (who’s great to watch in net).  I’m not complaining though.  I told myself I was going to stop doing this in the blog, but I can’t help it this time.  While I had trouble seeing the field, whenever I looked in that direction, I could see this extremely beautiful woman in the stands nearby.

She was perfectly bronzed and toned and proportioned.  Her tank top and shorts let you get a good look at those features.  No trashy tats marred that light caramel complexion with some foolish act of transitory rebellion.  Her short, sassy haircut looked practical at first glance, but was so precisely styled and colored to belie any ease of upkeep.  Mirror shades masked her eyes and probably the unknowable mystery of her soul.   Impossibly, this mortal Venus came in unescorted and unmarried with a bare ring finger.  Too mature for a student and too young to be the mother of one of the players.  An enigma, she sat alone and attentive, yet seemingly dispassionate about the events on-field.  Her only outburst was a hearty round of applause at the end of the match.  Not once did I see her afflicted with malaise of this age: staring blanking into a smartphone.  This heavenly creature must surely have been a figment of my undeserving imagination for she could not have been real.

The NM State Soccer sign on the south wall had been fixed.  It was warm and sunny, without a cloud in the sky.  An occasional breeze cooled the stands.  A little girls’ soccer team formed a double line out of the locker room for the Aggies to run through coming on to the field.  They also accompanied the starters out for introductions.  Devin Hart was introduced as captain, which I don’t think I’d heard before.  Congratulations.  We’re ready for soccer.

(Admit it.  That wasn’t bad prose for girl-watching.  Yes, she was fully worth poetry.)

First Half

The teams spent most of the first 15 minutes feeling each other out.  I have the first serious chance at 38’ left in the half, where Dmitri made a diving stop.  At 32’ Aileen Galicia charged the Lopes’ net and passed to Devin Hart coming up the middle.  GOOOOOOAL!  That looked good, 1-0 Aggies.  Shortly after, 28’ Jody Hernandez took a shot from outside the GCU box.  A minute later, 23’ the Lopes attacked inside the Aggie box for a goal.  Dmitri just missed pushing it out.  I couldn’t hear the PA call, but paper identified McKenzie Cook with the goal, 1 All.   

After that flurry of activity, the Lopes made most of the attacks for the rest of the half.  21’ GCU had a free kick shot just outside the box.  15’ Aileen made another solo attack that popped up over the net.  14’ GCU had a header that also popped over the net.  8’ the Lopes had a good chance on a roller near the net.  7’ Mariah Baker took one for the team and was knocked down on a corner kick.  6’ a GCU shot went just high and wide.  Before the half ended, 3’ off a goalie kick, a Lopes player had a really good header at midfield and another Lopes player made a great reception of that header downfield.  It was so well done, I’m sure the other players watching were jealous.            

Halftime

The break featured t-shirts being tossed into the crowd and another collection for Puerto Rico.  I made another contribution in hopes of impressing the gorgeous woman nearby.  A herd of kids were out playing on the pitch.  I had chatted a bit with a senior fellow, Danny, seated in front of me about yesterday’s Aggie football loss.  He’d been there for the soccer on Friday too.  Another fan came by talked with him.  I was struck by his hat which partly read “Nut Fry.  Festival of Testicles.”  I hope this was a “Mountain Oyster” festival and not something more hideous.  (What could be more hideous?)      

       

Second Half

“Do something instead of wandering around aimlessly,” said one of the young men behind about the girls.  I hope this guy was actually a player offering knowledgeable, critical commentary, because I think all I heard him talking about otherwise was video games.  A couple of attractive young women came in this half.  They seemed familiar.  After walking by a couple more times, I realized it was Megan McGuire and Briana Ainsworth from the volleyball team.  I didn’t recognize them immediately, since they were so nicely dressed and not wearing team shirts.  I’d heard about their loss this weekend, but they seemed in good spirits.  I wanted to say, “Hi,” but they were busy chatting with other people. 

The Lopes continued on the attack, 39’ Dmitri got a stop on a catch.  Unreadable scribbling in my notes.  Something about Aileen pushing down a girl (I enjoy that way too much) and a chance on a goal on a high kick.  35’ Aileen got a shot outside the box.  The Lopes’ goalie made a great tip to keep it out of the top shelf.  31’ GCU took a high shot over the goal.  28’ Devin may have been tripped in the GCU box, which would have resulted in a penalty kick.   Instead, a free kick was given outside the box.  The crowd was in an uproar over the call.  Jody took the kick and put it right over the player wall.  The goalie made a good catch behind them.

26’ Samantha Afonso “Fonzi” took a shot.  Devin took another shot off the rebound, which the Lopes’ goalie caught.  At this point, I’m sorry I didn’t catch the GCU goalie’s name.  She did a good job.  23’ Aileen, again by herself, got off a falling shot on goal.  Then the GCU offense picked up.  21’ Dmitri blocked a shot, then ran out and fell on it.  20’ the Lopes had a good free kick just outside the box that Dmitri made a great catch on.  14’ Dmitri knocked down another shot.  8’ GCU had an open shot, but the header popped over the net.  3’ Dmitri stopped a roller at the goal.  She must have been exhausted by the end of the half.  Downfield, Aileen had all but stopped moving with her hands on her knees.  She was clearly gassed, and I was afraid she’d cramped up as well.  The half ended, still tied.        

First Overtime

Maybe we should just start calling this “Third Period” like hockey instead of “Overtime,” because it seems mandatory.  Playing their fifth overtime match this season and third in a row, the Aggie girls might agree.  The game got chippier at this point with the players getting physical.  The ball mostly continued to stay mostly in the Aggie end.  4’ I was scribbling and just about totally missed a serious attack.  (When will stop doing that?)  What I saw was Kelly Burton defending the net and running into one of the pipes.  She seemed okay afterward, but I don’t know how.  Hopefully, I just didn’t see that correctly.  A minute later, Devin led coordinated attack on the other end to give the fans something to cheer about.  Still no winner for either team after 10 minutes.       

Second Overtime 

Nobody wants to hear my advice on how to improve soccer, but let’s start with this: make them play without the goalies in overtime.  That should end things quick.  What happened here was quick anyway.  8’ left in the OT, Aileen charged the right side of the box.  She tripped and fell, but got off a pass to Devin coming up the middle just like she did earlier.  Right in front of net, Dev stuck it right in, 2-1 Aggies final.  Gooooooooal!  The PA’s call was actually drown out by the crowd cheering.  That may be the loudest I’ve heard the soccer fans here.  The baseball team, sitting on the grass in front of the stands, was also standing and cheering.  You know you’ve done well, when you impress a team from another sport.  (I keep seeing the guys out here for them, so must like them.)           

Autographs

After the match, the girls came out to midfield gave the crowd a rousing, happy round of applause, which was returned.    Always win on Autograph Day so everybody’s happy.    I did say last time I’d go down and meet the girls for autographs.  I went down with Marty, who was eager to see the girls she knew.  Coach Freddy Delgado stood off to the side of the team, beaming with pride in them.  I went over and shook his hand. 

The girls definitely knew Marty and were happy to see her there.  She introduced me as a guy who was writing about the team in a blog.  They seemed somewhat excited about that.  I spoke to Cristina Bertoldo for a minute, since we had someone in common who was a co-worker with me.  I was a little leery of asking, since I don’t know the family situation, but said co-worker was doing well with her new baby.  Marty left after getting the girls to commit to seeing her for a seminar on natural food and health supplements.  (I just read an article that the various Aggie sports are now working with a nutritionist.)  I stayed for team autographs.   

I thought last year’s autograph signing was a bit disorganized.  They had tables on field, but didn’t have chairs.  This time, they didn’t have the tables and the line was pretty ragged.  The heavier cardstock of the autograph poster being handed out was useful for signing without support.  Also, it was a bit more awkward this time, since just about everyone in line that I saw was a little girl.  Last year, there were adults there.  Okay, I’m here now.  I don’t care how bad it looks that I’m in line with a bunch of 10-year old girls.  I’m getting autographs. 

I missed a few girls for autographs.  I’m not sure if they weren’t there or had wandered off, since I was about the last in line.  I missed getting Jody Hernandez’s autograph somehow, but saw her by the grandstands and congratulated her.  I never saw Audriana Chavez.  I wanted to ask her how she was doing and congratulate her for the winning shot on Monday.  I hope Audrey makes it back, since I’m sure Devin and Aileen would like her help on offense.      

The girls were sucking on frozen fruit pops during the signing.  Some of the girls I didn’t know on sight and some I got tongue-tied on.  Sorry.  I gave one girl my blog address, since she asked.  I said it covered Aggie sports in general.  I also said, “No apologies,” in what was probably a futile attempt at mitigating some of the things I’ve written.  I’m sure my restraining order will be served shortly.

Dmitri Fong was all smiles and very nice.  I don’t know.  I think was expecting her to be gruff and commanding, like when she’s playing.  I forgot to ask Dmitri about the origin of her name, but I’m sure that’s what everybody else asks her anyway.  I also forgot to ask how she was doing after her injury (obviously not too bad given her play this week).  I at least got to compliment her on her playing.  Again, she’s great to watch out there, even when the net isn’t in danger. 

Tuti Tirado may have remembered me from last year when I asked her about playing for the Puerto Rican national team.  I asked her about her pre-season interview.  She had been playing in a semi-pro league during the summer.  In addition to the piles of red curls, Mariah Baker also has cute freckles.  I made sure to get an autograph from today’s hero, Devin Hart.  She was very deservedly happy.  Wearing #13, I should have asked if she was an Alex Morgan fan too.   

Yikes!  Aileen Galicia is cute and sweet.  I’m sure the opposing players she knocks down and runs over might have also thought she was just a “cute little player” before the game.  I didn’t get to talk to her last year, so I didn’t know how nice she is.  I told her she has the “heart of a lion,” which does not fully convey my admiration for her relentless, fearless attacks on goal. 

I went all “sportswriter” for a moment and asked, “You guys played three matches in seven days and they all went overtime.  That had to be the worst case scenario.”  Aileen did confirm she was indeed sucking wind at the end of regulation.  “You have to tell yourself, ‘You’re not tired,’” she said in a happy glow of exhaustion and euphoria, “The coach kept telling us, ‘You’re not tired.’”  There you have it, the embodiment of the POW maxim: You’ll break mentally before you break physically.  She’s a warrior.  

Last in the jumbled line, I found backup goalie, Ashley Martin.  I felt somewhat like I owed her an apology, but instead I congratulated her on her last game, where she’d done a good job.  I couldn’t remember the opponent, but she seemed to know what I was talking about.  In addition to being happy about today’s victory, she was pleased with the recognition.  I even got a jaunty wave from her when she left the stadium with some friends.  I hope I enhanced her day a bit.   

The girls gave everything out on the field today, including being pleasant to the fans afterward.  I kind wish I was recording that little impromptu interview with Aileen.  It’d be great to show to a wider audience around town to sell Aggie athletics, especially to parents, as the girls and many other student-athletes in other sports are natural role-models.  As Marty’s encounter with them at her workplace shows, they can be great grassroots ambassadors for the university just being themselves.  The town rally for NMSU in a couple of weeks seems like a great opportunity to make more fans, so somebody in marketing has figured it out.

I wasn’t sure about going out to all these games this week, but it turned out to be a great idea.  One home game left this season, I’m looking forward to seeing it.