NM State Aggies vs CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners Soccer 10-18-19

Eli Gonzalez

Probably doesn't like being called "Cute," but she is.

Ah, a Friday noon game time start for today’s soccer match.  What great scheduling for me given I go to work in the late afternoon.  This meant I could go to this game without taking time off.  They should do this all the time. 

“Hey, double-digit fans today,” said the concessions lady as a couple of fans walked by, while I bought a Gatorade.  Oh, that’s why they don’t do this all the time.  The tailgate tents weren’t even up outside.  Actually, considering the time and day, it developed into a decent crowd.  In fact, we could have done with a few less.  I’ll get into that later.  I couldn’t help but notice that the hot dogs sitting on the rolling grill weren’t moving.  In other words, I think the dogs were sitting on a cold grill.  Appetizing. 

Grace Laporte

At the courtesy table was a pleasant surprise.  It was my favorite Aggie Swim & Dive girl/Sports Marketing intern, Grace Laporte.  She was so sweet and pretty.  There was a giveaway for Men’s and Women’s Basketball opening night tickets.  While I would have liked the Men’s tickets, I’d have to take the night off and Ron probably wouldn’t want to go.  Of course, I already had the Aggie Country Pass for the Women’s game.  I felt kind of dumb explaining some of this to Grace as she offered me an entry to the drawings.  

Andrea Ridgely

Out on the field, I noticed Kaitlyn May from the last game and the good-looking blonde from the autograph session.  They were easy to spot being attractive and not suited up to play.  I think the blonde is Andrea Ridgley.  Maybe.  If you’re not in uniform with a number it’s hard to tell.  Honestly, I’m only bringing this up because I got confused in mentioning them earlier.  Sorry.

It was warm and sunny out.  However, there was a good breeze going, so I left the umbrella at home.  I could hear some music and “plink” noises nearby.  The Aggie Baseball team may have been out practicing.  Danny was there in the stands.  I was glad to have someone to chat with.  Tom was not there.  Even the Aggie super-fan was put off by the odd start time. 

Whoa!  I was suddenly tripping out during the player introductions.  The CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunner goalie, Andrea Neves, was in pink with powder blue stripes, including pink socks.  I’m guessing the player had no input on the uniform.  Danny said their goalie was injured in practice.  Maybe Neves was a backup or the injured one was the backup.  By coincidence, the Aggies’ own Maddie Franklin was from Bakersfield, as her hometown was mentioned during her introduction.  CSUB huddled up during the Anthem.  Everybody has their own tradition.                  

The PA sounded enthusiastic today.  She’d sounded so down after the last match loss.  A couple of nice-looking members of the Women’s Tennis team were acting as ballgirls.  I keep waiting for them to draft me for the position.  Certainly, they’ve gone through everybody else.  Grace and another intern tossed out t-shirts right before the start.  Danny and I were sitting on the wrong side of the stands to get one though. 

First Half

I admit I’m tempted to skip the recap and cut right to the ending.  This is mostly because what happened up to that point could be described as a “defensive struggle.”  Or perhaps, more accurately, an offensive struggle.  This might be the match where I finally stopped enjoying watching the girls playing rough. 

42’ minutes left in the half, Hannah Leitner charged into the CSUB box.  The goalie made a catch on a weak shot.  41’ Aggie goalie Dmitri Fong fell on a shot at the Aggie end, but I think the play had been whistled dead before that.  Oh, poor Dmitri.  The Aggies’ last two games on the road hadn’t gone well.  Against Utah Valley, Dmitri made 14 saves, but they lost 1-0.  Next, they lost 5-0 to Seattle U, who have a really good program.  Dmitri had been pulled before the end of the game.  I felt like giving her a hug.    

39’ Jess McDow tried to get the ball downfield while fighting off two much smaller players.  There were some clouds above.  It almost looked like rain over at the mountains.  When I make notes like that, I think you can guess how interesting events were on the field.  35’ Katie Martinez caught Neves way out of the CSUB box, but the ball was kicked away.  The Roadrunners came right back and took a header shot that went way off.

Hannah was really working it.  Unfortunately, her attacks were mostly by herself.  26’ she was blatantly knocked down in the opposing box.  There was no call, when there should have been a penalty kick.  25’ Aggie Shea O’Connor and Roadrunner Sophie Freeman came together for our first head injuries of the game.  They were both shaken up.  CSUB took a shot that was knocked out.  Shea was not doing well on the field.  There was a stoppage as she came out and a sub came in. 

Play resumed with a Roadrunner corner, but there was no shot on goal taken.  Some more Aggie fans came in after the match started and sat down behind us.  I think they were NMSU teaching staff.  Embarrassingly, they seemed to know less about soccer than I do.  They also talked about their lifestories and other uninteresting personal information.  There was a loud CSUB fan there with them.  I think one of the staff was also rooting for Bakersfield as well.  It was a little unpleasant. 

Both goalies were shouting at their players to attack.  One of the players shouted back, “Hey, shut up goalie!  You’re just a spectator in uniform here!”  I’m just kidding.  By this point, I’d kind figured out that these two teams were way too alike: all defense, no offense.  I was telling Danny I was worried about a double overtime, nil-nil final. 

13’ Shea came back in.  That was good to see.  She was now sporting a Band-Aid on her brow.  CSUB took a shot over the Aggie goal.  Ooops, there was some confusion on Shea coming back in.  They had to redo the subs on the next stoppage.  10’ Hannah got banged on the head and run into the ground.  She was shaken up, but stayed in. 

9’ Jody Hernandez took a long shot on a free kick that was caught.  Coming back, Hannah argued with the line judge on possession after a ball went out.  A couple of students started brutally heckling the judge on the call.  That’s what happens when you play too close to the stands.  4’ the Aggies got a shot off by Jody Hernandez.  Neves pushed it out and then the ball was kicked away.  3’ Katie was tripped.  That was the last notable action of the half.  0-0 after 45 minutes.

Halftime

Both teams had the same stats for the half: 0 goals, 1 shot on goal, 1 corner.  It was 45 minutes of futility.  A couple of students participated in wearing horse-riding costumes and kicking balls.  A couple of Aggie player parents won the basketball tickets. 

Second Half

42’ Roadrunner Sophie took a shot to the face with the ball.  She had to sit down on the field after that.  There was another stoppage.  Sophie stayed in.  41’ Shea knocked down a defender at midfield.  This led to a Bakersfield free kick.  The ball took a high bounce and hung right in front of the net.  The ball got behind Dmitri, but she very calmly grabbed it for the save.  Keep this play in mind for later.

38’ two players collided on the CSUB end.  I couldn’t identify them, but it was a hard hit.  36’ Roadrunner Giselle Michel (pronounced “Michelle” and it rhymes) made a determined attack into the Aggie box.  She took a close shot that Dmitri caught.  Dmitri started screaming at her team after that to play up.  35’ Shea and a Roadrunner player tackled each other to the ground.  33’ another Roadrunner made some emphatic grabbing at Shea.  31’ Katie was on her knees by the CSUB goal after taking a hit.  Neves called over to the Ref, until he saw Katie and stopped play.  Good sportsmanship there.

30’ Hannah took a shot to the nose and bent over in pain.  I didn’t see any blood.  This account is getting brutal.  At some point, I actually stopped noting all the players going down.  So it was actually worse than what I’m writing here.  28’ CSUB corner.  Lece Aviles rode an attacking player out into a bad shot that Dmitri caught.  26’ CSUB made a crossing shot in front of the Aggie goal.  The shot was kicked over the goal.  Shea and Sophie head-butted again.  Sophie got the worst of it this time.  The trainer had to come out for her.

After the break, there was an argument over whose ball it was.  The ref gave it to Bakersfield, who immediately kicked it away at the Aggie goal.  It was a quick turnover.  21’ the Aggies got a corner, but it was mis-kicked and also resulted in a turnover.  Maddie received a yellow card breaking up the play.  Coach Baarts was screaming loud enough at the ref to be heard across the field, “Start protecting our players!”  The ref went over to him, said something, and left. 

20’ a Roadrunner player went face down into the grass.  18’ an Aggie and a Roadrunner both went down.  17’ Eli Gonzalez made a charge into the CSUB box.  She got the ball to Sarah Trent, who took a close shot that was saved.  I don’t know what happened to set off what happened next, but the ref carded the Bakersfield coach.  Officially, the card was given to the whole team.  You could also hear the coach clearly across the field, “You disrespected me!” 

15’ Eli brought it downfield again.  Shea got off a shot outside the CSUB box.  13’ back to the other end, the Roadrunners had a good attempt that missed out.  Near catastrophe then struck.  My pen ran out of ink.  It was new at the beginning of this semester.  I’ve just about used up the little notebook it came with too.  Thankfully, I came prepared with a backup pencil.  11’ Roadrunner Darian Tatum charged into the Aggie box.  Maddie was all over her.  Dmitri caught the shot.

The clouds started moving in more densely.  The sun went in and out.  The breeze picked up and became colder.  It still wasn’t bad out.  9’ Jody got knocked down on the CSUB end.  The Aggie bench cheered, as this lead to a free kick near the box.  Alexa Barerra took the shot.  Neves caught the grounder.  4’ Dmitri stopped a bouncing shot from outside the box.  3’ Kelly Burton came in.  I was wondering where she was.  1’ Shea took a header that heartbreakingly just went out.  Shea then leveled a defender.  The CSUB fans were unhappy with that one.  With under a minute left, Dmitri collected a roller and we finished regulation still scoreless.

Overtime

During the break, I could see the Aggies huddled around Coach Baarts.  He was being very demonstrative in talking to the team.  They let out a big cheer before taking the field.  Sophie came back in for the Roadrunners.  It’s good that she was okay.  8’ Bakersfield took a shot from the wing that went way out.  5’ the Aggies had a free kick well outside the CSUB box.  Analise Pacheco took the shot.  Like that shot earlier, the ball bounced high right in front of the net.  Neves had trouble handling it.  Corey Kizer charged in and headed the ball into the goal.  1-0 Aggies win!

I was jumping up and down and cheering before I even knew what I was doing.  The Aggie team dogpiled in front of the goal.  I was sure the ref would wave off the goal for some reason, but it stood.  Neves threw down her pads in anger afterward.  I don’t know if she was mad at herself or over not getting a call.  Tempers did flare though, but not from the players, the coaches!  They started yelling at each other as their teams went to shake hands.  I thought there was about to be a fight for a second.

The girls came over to give the fans a happy, jaunty wave.  The crowd gave them a hearty round of applause.  I felt good.  I was happy to have finally seen a win this season.  I’m not sure how the teams felt.  I counted five head injuries, not to mention all the other hard hits.  Unlike the last match, where it got personal, this time it seemed more like two hard-nosed teams playing in the same style.  Neither team was shocked by the roughhousing.  The coaches may have been angry over the ref not calling more fouls and then with each other for encouraging this kind of play.  Maybe they were yelling at each other to diffuse the players from doing it. 

Stat-wise, it was very close.  I think both teams had an equal number of shots on goal, 3.  It was a light workout for Dmitri compared to most other games.  In the interview afterward, Coach Baarts was asked about their next match against Chicago State.  As bad as the Aggies’ record is, 2-11-2, the Cougars are still likely worse.  He said they needed to treat it seriously.  He was sure Bakersfield came in here looking at the Aggies’ record and were expecting a win.

It was still a couple of hours until I needed to get to work.  I got a haircut from a very nice young woman with green hair.  I had a tasty, but somewhat unsatisfying meal at Wendy’s next door.  From there, it was a long night at work.  Aggie Soccer has one more home game left.  I hope they’ve learned how to put it together for another win next time.