NM State Aggies vs Gonzaga Bulldogs Soccer 9-19-21

I usually don’t have such mixed feelings about going to an Aggie game.  I really wish I hadn’t gone, but I feel really bad about saying this.  There was stuff on TV I would have rather have watched, regardless of the outcome of this game.  I certainly didn’t want to spend my Sunday night writing a recap.  However, I can’t shake the feeling that my days of going out to see Aggie sports are very limited.  Since there wasn’t a good reason not to go, I felt compelled to do so.

 

Ron had bowed out of going to anymore soccer games when I had talked to him earlier in the week.  He’s doing better after his back surgery, but doesn’t feel like he can sit on bleachers without backing for a couple of hours.  This also lets him out of going to any football games.  I have a neighbor, who just got cleared to play on the team.  I’d like to go out to a game to support him, though I may have to go by myself. 

 

On that matter, to digress a bit, the Aggie Football team did win on Saturday night.  They beat South Carolina State 43-35.  SCS is a lower level FCS team.  The score wasn’t that close just after the half with the Aggies up 43-13, but obviously there was a bit of a defensive breakdown.  The Aggies were using their third-string walk-on quarterback, Dino Maldonado, for the game, but he came through pretty well.  Last week, after an injury to the starter, he’d kept the team in the game in a loss to the UNM Lobos.  The team has already been blown out by the UTEP Miners, so the season has been a disaster with these two rivalry losses.  (20,000 people did come out for that game though.) 

 

I have to mention the weirdness of the TV coverage of the Saturday game.  No local blackout here.  I was also listening to the radio call, because I was flipping around between a couple of other things on the TV.  I’d flip back to the game when the Aggies were making good plays.  But if flipped over late, there was no replay.  This was worse than actually being at the game, where they’d at least show plays again on the big video board.  I was talking to a friend on the phone at the time.  I told him the lopsided score at halftime, and he said, “Are they playing (local high school) Mayfield?”  I kept watching during halftime, but there were no highlights shown.  Even after the game, there were no highlights.  Perhaps there was an explanation for this before the game, but I didn’t see it.

 

Back to today, my first indication I’d made the wrong decision to go was at the ticket booth.  The exhibition game I’d went to last month (8-12-21) was free admission.  The Volleyball game I’d went to earlier this month (9-3-21), had a $7 ticket.  I thought it was because it was a tournament game.  No, the soccer ticket price had gone up from $5 to $7 too.  It’s still a cheap ticket, but it’s harder to justify going given I’m not much of a soccer fan and it’s usually uncomfortable being out in the stands.  I’d already written off Women’s Basketball, but now especially since they’ve probably raised their prices too and their games were already $6.  (And every fast food place I go to has raised prices and is asking for a tip, even when I’m just doing carryout.)  Forget the Aggie Country Pass and any other season tickets given that the season can be totally cancelled at any time.

 

Also, I think the girl selling the ticket was that girl I’d met selling tickets for Softball a couple of years ago (5-29-18) that I’d tried to ask out.  It was hard to tell, since she was wearing a mask, one of the few people doing so, I guess because she was in the ticket office.  (I wouldn’t have thought to go if that had been a requirement for everyone, certainly not in 90 degree heat.)  I can’t believe she hasn’t graduated by now and is still working for the university.

 

I don’t think Concessions raised their prices.  I still avoided them.  There was a water barrel at the courtesy table, but no cups.  So much for that.  The weather was very warm and sunny with a light breeze.  This is less pleasant than you’d think while sitting exposed for a game.  I was under an umbrella for basically the whole time.  By the field, there was a merch pavilion.  I was really tempted by their “Guns Up” shirts with someone like Rosie the Riveter on them.  I’ve seen the design before, but they’ve enhanced the image.  It looks very sharp.  Disregarding whatever the price was, I don’t need any more shirts.  This design has also always seemed too girly for a guy to wear. 

 

The crowd turned out to be pretty good.  It was mostly students and parents of players, though.  A lot of people were under the trees on north end of the field for shade.  There were three pavilions set up in the parking lot for tailgaters.  Once again, there were no ball kids to run down out-of-bounds balls.  This must be a policy thing.  During player introductions, I found I didn’t recognize many of the Aggie starters.  A few came in later in the game.  On the field, the teams didn’t look mismatched in size or height. 

 

Then I looked at the program and saw Gonzaga’s record, 8-1.  Several of those wins were also lopsided.  They’re pretty good, just like their Men’s Basketball team.  For the Aggies, they started off their season with four straight wins (including the exhibition game), which was a program record.  Since then, they’ve been run over by Texas, beat Incarnate Word, lost a heartbreaker in OT to UTEP, and lost 1-0 to UNLV.  That was all part of a six-game road trip.  It probably took a toll. They returned home to play under the lights against UNM, but were crushed 3-1.  It was 3-0 until a late goal.  There was a decent crowd and, for the first time, they sold beer in the stands.  They didn’t do that today and probably won’t for the conference schedule.

 

First Half

I know that voice.  As soon as the game started, the number one Aggie fan started yelling.  Tom was back.  I thought I saw him at the volleyball game, but this time for sure.  I’d been a bit worried about him all this time.  And that didn’t take long in the game, as the Zags rushed the Aggie box and scored in the first minute.  It was pretty much a point blank shot in front of the net.  I was caught unprepared and didn’t get the scoring player’s name.  The PA sort of muttered something, also in shock.  (It was Erin Healy.)  1-0 Zags.          

 

I’m going to go with “Zags” for the rest of the post.  They are the Bulldogs officially, but the parents were calling their team, “Zags.”  41’ left in the half, we have our next indignity, as Shea O’Connor went for a header.  A Zag player behind her got it first and headed it into the back of Shea’s head.  She was fine.  40’ Makenna Gottschalk in goal for the Aggies made her first stop with a block.  Unfortunately, I’ll be naming her a lot here in this post.  Unlike the last post though, I’ll be spelling her name correctly here.  Sorry.  I don’t know where I got that other spelling.

 

A couple of football team-looking types came in.  One of them was wearing a Prince Purple Rain t-shirt.  Style points there, man.  Tom was still going with his cheering non-stop.  37’ Makenna made a diving one-handed stop.  I don’t know if the ball was for sure going into the net or going wide, but the move looked cool.  35’ Makenna caught one in the gut.  I could hear Coach Baarts screaming across the field.  He was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, a baseball hat, and sunglasses.  Seemed like Casual Day at work, but he wasn’t wearing flip-flops at least.

 

32’ the Aggies got a throw in on the Zag side of the field.  A Zag player stopped an Aggie shot with a header.  Impressive.  30’ the Zags counterattack.  There was a great downfield pass to a player right in front of the Aggie goal, but the shot was chipped high over the net.  29’ Shea was brutally pushed into the ground.  This got a reaction from the crowd, but not so much from Shea.  28’ Makenna made another flying block.  The crowd then got on a line judge on a call.  26’ Makenna scooped up another shot.

 

25’ hydration break . . . for the players.  I had a water bottle in my truck, where it did me no good.  Meanwhile, Tom explained himself to another fan.  “I don’t hear very well!  I can’t hear how loud I am!”  24’ Hannah Draper made a great pass to Corey Kizer at the Zags’ net.  Goalie Lyza Bosselmann made a great save on the shot.  23’ on the other end, Makenna made a stop with her knees.  20’ Makenna punched away a corner kick. 

 

There was another vocal Aggie fan sitting beside me.  Him and Tom started working together cheering and stomping on the stands.  I noticed one of the Aggie players on field, Bella Garcia, was wearing a big cast on her arm.  This is one of the few sports were you could get away with playing in that condition.  The thing was like a club.  I kept kind of hoping somebody would start something with her, so she could finish it. 

 

What have I said about back passes to the goalie before?  15’ the Zags made a couple of them in a row.  Lucky for them, the Aggies weren’t able to capitalize on the sloppy play.  It was contagious.  14’ Makenna had to corral a loose pass and briefly faced a one-on-one with a Zag player.  This led to a Zag corner.  10’ a Zag player made an impressive no-look kick in front of the Aggie net.  Makenna stayed with it to stop it.

 

9’ Zag Maddie Kemp fired one from the top of the key (wait, that’s basketball) and put it in the top shelf.  Nothing much anybody could have done about that, except maybe guarding her better.  2-0 Zags.  5’ Katie Martinez bulldozed a Zag player.  Tom loved it.  Him and a Zag mom seemed to be competing in cheering.  1’ yellow card for a Zag player, Payton Stiles, took out Grace Olson at midfield.  With under a minute left, Makenna made yet another save on a long shot.

 

Halftime

The game reset on the scoreboard was a bit brutal.  2-0 goals Zags, 7-1 shots on goal Zags, and 8-1 corners Zags.  (I don’t know why they bother with that last stat on the board.)  No need for a bathroom break for me; I’m dehydrated.  A couple of songs played on the PA.  The last one was a really weird disco song.  Some of the Zag girls were dancing to it.  (No accounting for taste.)  A cool breeze came through before play restarted.  It was heavenly.

 

Tom walked by on his way out and said, “Hi,” to me.  When he came back to the stands, he stopped and showed me his Aggie Baseball hat.  He handed it to me and said, “You’re the best fan I’ve seen out here taking all those notes during the games.”  (Obviously, he hasn’t read my blog.)  He’d also caught me while I actually wondering if I was going to come back for any more games.  So, I felt bad.  I couldn’t take it anyway, since I noticed it was a nice, new hat, but he insisted and said he’d gotten several from Aggie Baseball.  When I looked at it more closely later, I realized it was an actual team hat.  Yikes!  A little later, I suddenly worried that Tom was sitting in the sun without a hat.  No problem, he had his usual floppy hat on when I went to thank him after the game.     

 

Second Half

I don’t do this for praise, so I was properly embarrassed when play resumed.  A couple of butterflies crossed the field to start.  I’ve been seeing them everywhere lately.  I don’t know why I’m suddenly noticing them.  41’ Mya Hammock spilled a Zag Kate Doyle while defending the Aggie net.  The Zag trainer and then the Aggie trainer had to come out for her.  Makenna went over and gave the girl her water bottle during the care.  Eventually, she was helped off field and had to be driven off on a cart.

 

40’ back to play, Makenna made a dive stop, but Haley Archuleta made a follow up attack in front of the net.  She got past a defender and rolled one past Makenna.  3-0 Zags.  Makenna had to make another dive block right after in the same minute.  34’ Lece Aviles made a hard tackle at midfield that sent an attacker to the turf.  That turned the ball over for a free kick.  Tom yelled out, “That’s right out of drama school!”  (Okay, that one was good.)

 

32’ Makenna had to come out on the wing to defend by herself.  That was risky.  31’ the Aggies put up a ferocious defense in front of their net as the ball passed around the box.  Thankfully, there was a whiff on a kick in the middle of the attack.  Tom shouted, “How’d they get the ball?”  By this point, the Zag parents had kind of figured Tom out and were just amused by his comments.  29’ Corey took a good shot on the Zag goal.  Lyza has to make a great save on it.  24’ Lyza seemed okay after that, but their coach took her out for a backup, Lauren Towne.  After the hydration break, Makenna came out for Mia Montano.  There seemed to be an acknowledgment that the game was functionally over.

 

If I thought the disco was weird earlier, the break music sounded like a kid’s show tune.  I don’t know what it was from, but the chorus was, “Into the thick of it.”  The guy next to me was enjoying it.  He started yelling along with Tom again.  He caught himself and said to his wife, “He’s been a bad influence on me.”  21’ there were mass Aggie subs.  This led to Erin Healy firing one from outside the box just under the crossbar for her second goal.  4-0 Zags. 

 

19’ Katie took long shot on goal that was caught.  18’ the Zags made mass subs.  Mia caught a long shot after that.  Tom then gave the girls a discourse on soccer.  “Get the ball!  We can’t do anything without the ball!  Step 1, get the ball!  Step 2, kick it into the goal!”  (I am not making this up.  That is verbatim.)  12’ Mia fell on one for a save.  8’ Shea made a good shot outside the Zag box forcing the goalie to make a save. 

 

5’ after going back and forth for several minutes as clouds passed in front of the sun, I finally put my umbrella away.  By this point, nobody was grateful for the shade.  I’ve been watching the game clock since 20’ waiting for this to end.  3’ the Aggies made a concerted attack.  The Zags countered, but Lece broke it up by herself at midfield.  Under a minute, the Zag goalie had to make one more save.

4-0 Zags was our final.  9-2 Zags shots on goal and 10-1 Zags on corners.  This was a thorough beating.  I’ll take Makenna Gottschalk for my Aggie player of the game.  She was certainly the busiest.  Erin Healy, for Zags, with her two goals gets the other gameball.  Afterward, the players of both teams mingled on field.  (For this volleyball this season, the teams just wave at each other across the net.)  Brooke Schultz on the Aggies seemed to know some of the Zags and hugged a couple.                            

 

I’ve gone the whole post without saying something I usually do.  I haven’t mentioned any pretty girls at the game.  On the field and in the stands, there wasn’t much to look at.  I’m saying everybody or anybody was hideous, just nothing to get excited about.  The Ticket Girl was very attractive, but not in a mask.  There was one hot girl with the team in some capacity that came out on the field near the stands to deliver balls before the game.  She was wearing a tight black tank top with little black tight shorts.  Unfortunately, that was all I saw of her.  Perhaps the lack of eye candy was my real dissatisfaction with this event.

 

Afterwards, I went to Dominos, of course not for their overpriced, pedestrian pizza.  I’d been wanted one of their Chicken Bacon Ranch Sandwiches for a while, but hadn’t been able to make it happen.  I called Ron while I was waiting for it to come out of the oven and told him he didn’t miss anything.

 

At home, I devoured the tasty meal too quickly to really appreciate it.  I watched some of the NHRA drag race that I would have watched all of if I’d stayed home.  It was a really interesting-looking event (including a near fight between a couple of drivers), just to make me feel worse.  I only saw some of the postrace for Indycar, which was also on.  They were at Laguna Seca, one of my favorite tracks.  If I’d remembered that I wouldn’t have gone.  Because of Tom, I feel almost obligated to go to Soccer at least one more time.  I’d also kind of like to see a night game there, since they’ve got the lights up now.  This isn’t the end of my soccer posts, but I can see it from here.