Even after a 3-11-2 season, surprisingly the Aggies still had
something to play for. With a win, since
they were 2-4-0 in conference, they would make the WAC tournament. They’d won
last weekend at Chicago State,
albeit just barely, 2-1. They’d fallen behind 1-0 until Shea O’Connor
scored the equalizer in the second half.
Eli Gonzalez scored the winner
in overtime. If they’d lost to the
Cougars, I’m not sure if Coach Baarts
would have been on the plane back to Las Cruces. They were playing a much better team in UMKC who were 9-3-4, except they were
only 1-2-2 in conference.
They were doing the Senior Day ceremonies when I walked
into the Soccer Complex. I’d missed this
last year (10-27-18). It’s still a
sore spot with me. The Roo seniors were
introduced first, then the five Aggie seniors.
When Kaitlyn May was introduced,
the PA said she’d had a career-ending injury.
Kyleigh Cox was introduced as
the team co-captain with Kelly Burton. Amy
Gulczynski was introduced as having come back from an injury. Jess
McDow was the other senior.
University President John
Flores came out for the coin flip and was thanked for supporting Aggie
Soccer. The four seniors that could play
were all starters. The Roos looked sharp
in their blue and yellow uniforms. Their
goalie, Erin Roth, was in
yellow. I was glad the weather wasn’t as
forecast yet. It was cloudless and sunny
with a cold breeze. El Paso looked dusty
to the south. There was supposed to be a
stiff, hard cold wind this afternoon.
The crowd was “friends and family” level. This was a 3:00pm match on a Thursday. Dad said he looked for me on the NMSU news show later in the evening
when they did coverage of the game. He
didn’t see me or anybody in the stands. Tom
didn’t make it out again. Danny was
there. He told me they held the senior ceremony
up until I got there. I asked him if
he’d heard about the UNM Lobo
quarterback getting suspended. He had and
we chuckled. The quarterback had been
caught . . . umm . . . practicing some solo
drills in public on the campus.
Okay, what is wrong with young women at the university that even a
quarterback can’t get laid?
First Half
The Aggie reserves let out a big cheer at the start. They were fired up. You could tell their energy level was
high. Goalie Dmitri Fong was yelling instructions and encouragement so loud you
could clearly hear her in the stands.
(The lack of much of a crowd might have also made it easier to hear the
players on field.)
43’ left in the half, Amy was making the most of her start
by taking a shot on goal. 40’ the Roos brought
it back down with a free kick on the wing.
The ball was stopped and kicked out.
39’ Hannah Leitner took a hit
and was on her hands and knees at midfield.
Play was stopped, but she was okay.
I didn’t see the incident. Maybe
the wind was just knocked out of her.
The Roo attacks continued. 37’
Dmitri stopped a low shot. 36’ Hannah
was knocked down again. She shook it off
to help Kelly on defense.
35’ Kelly took the ball away from a Roo attacker, who was
otherwise unblocked in the Aggie box.
Said Roo was Lindsey Prokop. I’d noticed her since she was working on the
near sidelines. She was cute and had the
best hair on the field, blonde with dark highlights, very fetching. There was another immediate attack that
Dmitri caught. 33’ Dmitri then caught a
free kick that came from the top of the box.
32’ a Roo corner kick was headed out, but that led to another corner
that was also headed out.
Amy and Kyleigh were subbed out. They seemed to be doing a good job. The Roos apparently thought so too. 30’ Lindsey beat Aggie defender, Analise Pacheco, who had just checked
in, and found Amanda Sampson in
front of the net for the goal. 1-0 Roos. Dmitri had no chance on that one. After that, the Aggies’ spirit seemed to
deflate.
28’ Dmitri fell on a ball that rolled into the Aggie
box. 27’ Shea and a Roo defender both
took a tumble fighting over the ball at midfield. 26’ Hannah made a determined charge into the
Roo box. She was ridden out, but this
led to a corner kick. Kelly took a chip
shot that was caught. 24’ Dmitri knocked
down a long shot. 23’ Dmitri poked out a
Roo corner shot. 22’ another Roo corner
was broken up in the box. Eli charged
out with the ball, but was knocked down at midfield. At a fan’s suggestion, the ref issued a yellow
card to the offender.
18’ after a ball touched two other Roos directly in front
of the Aggie net, there was Lindsay again to tap it in. 2-0
Roos. There was no defense there to
help Dmitri. She was again left
helpless. 18’ back at the other end,
Shea ran into the Roo goalie, who was trying retrieve a ball in the air. The ref didn’t issue a card, but take Shea
aside and gave her a talking to. 16’ Corey Kizer took a shot over the net. On the play, Katie Martinez was injured.
The trainers had to come get her and help her off. It was something with her foot or leg.
13’ Jody Hernandez
took a shot from the wing that went way over the net. She immediately took another one that did the
same. 9’ Sarah Trent, just into the game, had a collision with the Roo
goalie Erin too. 1’ Alexa Barerra was right in front of the Roo net with the ball, but
was blocked before she could get the shot off.
With under a minute left, Sarah took a shot, Erin mishandled the ball,
but there was no one there to follow up on the attack.
Halftime
The Aggies had 3 shots on goal to the 5 by the Roos. It was 4 to 2 Roos in corners. The wind was picking up and was getting
colder, but it wasn’t uncomfortable yet.
There was another horse racing/ball kicking contest for
entertainment. I was enjoying the view
of marketing intern Emerson presiding over the event. There had been some music next door at the
football field. I think the football
team was practicing. The music at the soccer
field for the half was the worst of the mainstream. No music would have been preferable.
There was an odd occurrence after the competition. A well-dressed middle-aged couple wandered on
to the field. They stopped at midfield,
seemingly lost. The PA gently and then
more forcefully told them to get off the field.
They left, but would not be hurried, dragging out each step.
Second Half
I’d noticed the field cart moving on field in the first
half. It came back and delivered Katie
to the Aggie bench. She was now on
crutches. 43’ Dmitri was right back into
action. She caught a roller off a
throw-in and caught another shot from the wing.
Back at the other end, Sarah took a shot at the top of the box. Erin fell on it. 39’ there was an Aggie corner, though Jody
was confused as to which corner to take the shot from.
35’ Roo Lindsay took a shot that hit the scoreboard as the
Aggies were now defending the north end.
33’ there was a long shot on the scoreboard. I tell you, opposing players can’t resist
shooting at it. 32’ there was a Roo shot
into the side of the Aggie net. The Roo
bench wanted a corner out of that. With
the wind speed and direction, Danny noted that Dmitri’s goal kicks were now
flying to the other end of the field, instead of dying at midfield. It was getting stiff.
31’ Sarah was leveled at midfield and another card was
issued. 30’ Sarah took a weak shot on
goal that was caught. 24’ Andrea Ridgely came in. Once again, I think I misidentified her as
someone else last time. I
shouldn’t have mentioned players not in the uniform or on the roster no matter
how attractive they looked. In play, Eli
accidently kicked the ball into the back of Lindsay’s head. She didn’t even seem to notice.
26’ Hannah caught Erin way out the goal, but only managed
a wide shot. 24’ Sarah took a roller
shot that was caught. 22’ Hannah was
dramatically tripped. The free kick by
Jess went high over the Roo net. The
Aggies got a corner, but didn’t get a shot on goal off. Danny had left by this point to get ready for
volleyball later. The wind was now cold
and hard enough to make the last 20 minutes of Aggie home soccer this season
miserable. Danny also had a bit of a
cold. This was not the place from him to
be.
17’ another Roo shot on the scoreboard. 15’ Eli took a header shot right in front of
the Roo goal. It was caught, but Sarah
ran into Erin following up. This got Sarah
a yellow card. Right back down to the
Aggie end, Dmitri fell on a shot well away from the goal and lost it. The net was only guarded by a defender. Thankfully, the ball was kicked away.
14’ Shea came into the game. She’d been out for the second half. 13’ the Aggies got a corner. Erin and another Roo collided, but the ball
rolled out. 10’ the Roos had a corner,
but there was no ball available. I think
some Aggie Baseball players had been
recruited as ball boys. They weren’t
exactly sharp here. 7’ Jess came
out. There were some cheers in the crowd
for her from some friends.
6’ Corey took a long shot that went just wide. This led to an Aggie corner, but no
shot. A little girl with pink hair at
the foot of the grandstand jumped up and down as Emma Smith ran by. She was
shouting for her. It was so cute. 3’ Emma took a quick free kick to Jody, who
took a shot that was caught. There were
mass subs for the Roos right after for whatever reason. My last game note was that the wind was now
gusting. 2-0 Roos was the final.
I could not have been more happy for this game to have
ended, probably along with this whole home season. Emma and Lindsay had been going hard after a
ball before the final horn with no one around them. They slapped hands as play was stopped. It was some nice sportsmanship. The team came up to the stands for one more
wave. They were a bit melancholy. Your final game stats were 8 to 5 in shots on
goal for the Roos and 6 corners each.
With a goal and an assist, Lindsay
Prokop was the player of the game.
She’s only a freshman, but with UMKC leaving the conference, this is
probably the last I’ll see of her.
Like last year, I’m not doing a separate season recap for
soccer. It was another season to forget
with about the same record. They have
one more game left. I’m not sure if
they’re still in contention to go to the conference tournament. Maybe things could suddenly turn around. I’ll write this out based on nothing really
changing. I’ll write something they do
make the tournament.
The team has improved on defense since last season. That can be summed up quickly: Dmitri Fong played the whole season in
goal. If she didn’t exactly win games,
at least she kept them in games where they would have otherwise been blown
out. (And she’s definitely marriage
material 8-25-19.) Offensively, Shea O’Connor was a good addition, but
the attacks were still generally uncoordinated.
Simply, they decreased the number of opposing goals, but reduced their
own as well. There were so many times
that they were close to scoring, but the ball just didn’t find the net. Shea is a mismatched piece with the other
offensive players. Maybe Coach Baarts
can fix this in recruiting. He’ll
probably be back, but next year may be his last year without significant
improvement.
Will I be back next year?
I’ve enjoyed some of the soccer, but mostly it’s been sitting out in
uncomfortable conditions watching somebody else win (or worse, tie). I’m still a bit broken-hearted over Aileen Galicia. I shouldn’t have met her. Apart from the Lobo game, attendance
has declined, even for the UTEP
game. I somewhat wish I hadn’t taken
time off for some of these games. It
wasn’t worth the extra effort when I got back to work the next day. I’m going to consider this carefully before
next season, but I’ll probably want to see Dmitri in her final season. Once again, another downer ending to Aggie
Soccer from me. Well, no time for
thoughtful consideration. I was off to
volleyball.
Postscript: The team posted this the next day. Ahh. I
think that’s Hannah there.
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