NM State Aggies vs Boise St Broncos Soccer 9-9-18

And here it was, the last live event of my vacation.  We end as we began with an Aggie Soccer match.  Their opponent was Boise State out of the Mountain West.  I had to think about it and look it up after the match, but I’ve seen these girls play before (10-27-17).  They were playing the Utah State Aggies in that game. (Yes, those Aggies, whom the NM State Football team has played.)  I said at the time that I thought both teams were playing at a “higher level” than the Aggie soccer team.  I must have subconsciously remembered that before today’s game, because I had assumed they were a better team.  Frankly, I hope NM State sports can turn into what Boise State has become in their athletic programs.

I had on my new Aggie Volleyball shirt, hoping there was still some good luck left on it from their big win over Arizona.  Ron was coming with me for his first Aggie Soccer match.  I found out later that his brother had played soccer, and Ron had gone to some kids’ games, so he was pretty well acquainted with the sport.  Ron also knew about how parents typically acted at soccer matches, but I still warned him.  Afterward, he was actually a bit disturbed by the Aggie fans.  They got pretty bad today.  I suggested that his brother might want to come, but then retracted it.  Having played the game, he might turn into one of those bad fans in the stands.

It was youth soccer day at the park.  Youth teams were encouraged to attend the game.  A bouncy house and a slide were set up on the hill overlooking the field.  A flavored ice machine was set up next to the concessions.  I couldn’t resist that.  I got a blue raspberry flavored one.  It was nice, but melted pretty quickly in the heat.  The heat wasn’t as bad as the last two games (8-26-18 and 8-31-18), but I was doused in sunblock and Ron brought in an umbrella. 

It was a bit deserted at first in the stands, but the crowd was just late-arriving.  One minute it was sparse, then suddenly the stands were full.  The Swim and Dive girls were back and probably the Baseball team, all of whom sat in front of the stands.  One group of fans set up a pavilion tent in the stands.  That was an interesting idea, until later in the match when a gust of wind grabbed it and it nearly took flight.  One of the other stands was filled by the Aggie Band percussion section, who provided musical accompaniment for the match.  That was a good addition to the game.  I just wished they’d played more and louder, so that I couldn’t hear the fans. 

A young woman came out to do a live Anthem.  Unfortunately, her wireless mic had a problem and it kept cutting in an out.  She had a strong enough voice that you could hear her without it.  Afterward, she seemed a bit distraught as she hugged her mom.  The crowd gave her two rounds of applause.  She did a good job.  Hopefully, she can could back and do it again without the technical difficulties.  Afterward, the Aggie girls ran to the stands and handed out some cowbells to the fans.   

First Half

Senior Ashley Martin was now in goal for the Aggies.  In the girls’ last game on the road against Abilene Christian, three goals had come in before a weather delay.  Ashley was put in afterward and didn’t allow any.  I could see Coach Baarts wanting to stick with the freshman, Mia Montano, since she’s taller, but Ashley has the experience.  In any case, they’re really waiting for Dmitri Fong to be cleared to play.

Ashley was put to the test early and often.  I’m not sure if the Aggies’ defensive strategy mandated this or if she’s a more aggressive goalie, but at 33’ left in the half, Ashley charged out to stop an attacker.  She’d be doing this throughout the match, rather than sitting back on attacks.  At 30’ the Aggies answered.  My dear Aileen Galicia got a crossing pass to Katie Martinez in front of the net that just missed. 

28’ Boise State hit the crossbar on the Aggie net.  Ashley caught a follow-up rebound shot.  27’ Aileen took a shot from outside the Boise box.    After taking a shot a minute before, at 22’ Raimee Sherle scored for the Broncos.  Ash had come out to stop the attack and a crossing pass went to Raimee, who found the open net.  1-0 Boise St.  

The Aggies came back at 19’ with a couple of corner kicks.  Kelly Burton took a shot.  18’ Micaela Milavec made a free kick into the Boise box and a header just missed.  (I wasn’t able to identify the player taking the shot.)  17’ defender Grace Olson broke up an attack when Ash was trying to recover the ball.  15’ Kelly broke up a solo breakaway attack.  11’ Ash came out again to stop a solo attack and made a catch on a follow-up.

8’ four girls went down from being tackled.  The game was getting physical.  “Get up #12!” Kelly’s parents offered some helpful coaching from the stands.  Rebecca Mazzie was then leveled.  Kelly pushed out an attacker.  “Put it in the net!  Stop goofing around!” more invaluable support from the stands for the Aggie girls.  2’ Jess McDow broke up the final attack of the half. 

Halftime

The little kid players paraded out on field with their parents.  The stats on the scoreboard showed the Aggies with 5 shots on goal and 5 corners to 4 shots and 1 corner for the Broncos.  I’m admit it; the Aggies were doing better than I expected.  If only they could get the crowd and their parents behind them. 

During the first half, Ron and I were both listening to the radio call of the Aggie Volleyball team taking on UTEP in El Paso.  About halfway through the second half, the Aggies won it.  I think I remember an announcement about them beating Arizona yesterday before the match, but they didn’t announce this win after it happened.  I don’t know if it would have helped anything, but it wouldn’t have hurt.

Second Half

While there was only one goal in the first half, there was actually plenty of action.  The second half continued right on with that.  42’ Ash caught a Boise corner kick.  38’ the fans were starting to get truly unruly, especially with the refs.  They were yelling have a player stand back for an Aggie free kick.  The ref agreed and had the Boise player back up. 

The Aggies pressed.  25’ Aileen took a shot.  21’ Alexa Barrera bounced a header that just missed and then she got a yellow card.  I thought I was watching, but Ron had to nudge me to point out the card.  18’ Goooooal!  Emma Smith fed Katie, who floated it over the goalie.  1-1.  The Broncos turned up their attack.  16’ Ashley came out for another grab.  I’d noticed the Aggies were making frequent back passes to their goalie.  Those were making me nervous.  12’ after a turnover on the Aggie end, Raimee beat a single defender to the net.  Ash came out to stop her, but the shot went off first.  2-1 Boise.

11’ #10 Eva Herrera on Boise got knocked to the ground.  I’d noticed her in this half as I thought she was the prettiest opposing player.  The Aggie fans heckled her as she was on the ground.  She got up and exchanged words with the ref, and they had a laugh.  The Aggie fans got angrier at that.  The Broncos tried to put it away at this point.  10’ Ash stopped a shot off another turnover.  6’ Ash stopped another and fell on the ball.  The Aggies came back.  3’ off a corner, Audrey Chavez took a header at the goal. 

2’ left and we had the play of the game.  Aileen came up on the Boise goalie, Tara Fisher, trying to recover the ball.  Tara played a bit of keep-away from Aileen to burn some more clock.  I sat there thinking, Ooh sweetheart, pissing off Aileen is the last thing you want to do there.  Tara set up the ball for a free kick.  As the fans informed me earlier, the opposing player is supposed to give 10 yards.  Aileen stood by herself about 9 and ½ yards in front of her while everyone else was at midfield. 

Tara kept motioning her to move back.  Aileen wouldn’t budge.  This pantomime continued for several seconds.  The fans started screaming for a delay of game.  Whistle.  They got it.  Turnover.  Aggie ball.  The Aggies got the free kick just outside the Boise box.  Alexa tapped the ball to Aileen, who hammered it right in.  2-2.  With only a 1’ left, the Broncos made one more rush at the Aggie net, which resulted in an injured player for them.  She collided with Ashley, who made the stop. 

First Overtime

“I did warn you that this might go long, didn’t I?” I asked Ron.  Actually, I’d told him beforehand that this would run about two hours.  It was pretty hot and uncomfortable outside, but forget that, we needed to see somebody win! . . . or tie.  Yeah.

3’ Ashley caught a save, but the ball mostly stayed on the Boise end.  2’ Aileen had a solo breakaway.  A defender blocked out the shot.  1’ Micaela took a free kick from well outside the box and came very close to ending it.  My notes have the Boise goalie getting a yellow card.  I don’t even remember that and there’s nothing else written with it.  Was I experiencing heat stroke?  (There was an unspecified foul late on Boise in the official box score.) 

Second Overtime

Can’t we just do penalty kicks after regulation?  Did I mention it was hot?  Between OT’s, a couple of little bitty girls went out to the north goal.  They set up for a penalty kick.  The kicker made the shot and ran around and celebrated.  See, that was plenty entertaining and quick (and adorable).

4’ Ash fell after a shot from the corner.  There was a scrum at the net and not enough defenders.  Goal.  The entire crowd was completely deflated.  The scoreboard was not updated, but the final was 3-2 Boise State.  DJ Downs made no announcement to credit the goal.  It was just over.  I found out later that it was, surprise, Raimee Sherle with her third goal of the day.  The coach had mentioned in an interview on Wednesday that there was one star player on the Boise team that they needed to contain.  I’m guessing that was her.

Ron said after that he saw that goal coming because the Aggies weren’t getting back on defense.  This is a more offensive-minded team than they were previously.  I have to credit Ashley Martin in goal.  This match could have gotten out-of-hand quickly without her getting the saves.  But if you’re crediting the goalie in a loss, that means she was getting peppered.  The Aggies probably had more shots on goal, but Boise seemed to have much better chances. 

I’m not a soccer expert.  I don’t know what to say.  Coach Baarts was interviewed later in the week.  He’s encouraged by the team’s progress.  Really the only blowout game they’ve had was the game they won against Northern Illinois.  Everything else has been close.  They’ve been scoring goals, but they need to stop letting them in.  We’ll see what happens when Dmitri gets back in goal and conference play starts.  If she’s healthy, we’ll have a better read on the team’s capabilities.      

Autographs

This wasn’t announced, as far as I know, on Twitter, but was before the match.  As ever, this was a bit awkward after a loss, especially after a tough one like this.  But it certainly wasn’t as awkward as standing in line with a bunch of 10-year-old girls.  I almost backed out when I realized I was the only adult wanting autographs.  Usually, there are at least some students and staff there for things like this.  But, I had to take advantage of this opportunity to talk to the girls. 

First, the girls were very nice.  They were very charming to the little girls.  You wouldn’t have known to the outcome of the game from watching the players here.  Second, I’m sure I missed some players and didn’t remember everyone’s name and didn’t recognize everyone’s good plays.  My apologies. 

I talked to Emma Smith first and I congratulated her on her assist.  I told Mia Montano that she’d done a good job in goal for the past several games.  I teased Kaitlyn May that they needed to give her a jersey in her size.  (Hers is way too big for her.)  When I got to Dmitri Fong, the first thing I did was look down at her feet.  She was out of the boot and was hoping to start for the next game.  I was standing right next to her and was just about breath-taken.  Dmitri is really good-looking and has a magnetic personality.  That carries over into goal, so I’m looking forward to seeing her playing again.

“Hi, Aileen.  What was up between you and the Boise goalie?”  My dear Aileen Galicia smiled, “Hey, it worked didn’t it?”  I’d hate this girl if she was on the opposing team.  Thank goodness she’s on ours.  I asked if she’d contacted Marty to come out, but she hadn’t.  Aileen remembered me and said she hadn’t seen me here before this season.  Maybe she meant I should have come down and said “Hello,” before this.  (Hey, first time there was a storm in the area, the second, I was late for work.)

Micaela Milavec was lovely and also had a confident personality.  Her poster-mate Rebecca Mazzie actually did have some adults around her.  I went back to see her and congratulate her on her goal in the last game and the nice poster picture.  The last player I saw was today’s keeper, Ashley Martin.  I think she was getting consoled by her parents when I went by.  I waited since I really wanted to tell she’d done a good job today.  Ash brightened up.  I asked about her injury at the beginning of the season, since I didn’t know why she wasn’t playing before this.  She’d had a concussion.  Poor girl.

Jack-in-Box burgers and Caliche’s afterward.  I’m never eating again.  I way over indulged this week.  This was a disappointing loss, but the team was much more competitive than I thought they’d be against Boise State.  Unfortunately, much of the team’s schedule conflicts with work for me, but I’m going to try and get the time off to see them some more.