NM State Aggies vs Abilene Christian Wildcats Soccer 8-23-19

I’m back at the pitch for another season.  How did this happen?  We didn’t exactly part under good circumstances last year (10-27-18).  I almost went to all of their home games, only some cross-scheduling with volleyball caused me to miss half of a match.  A few times I took off a couple of hours of work to see Friday afternoon matches, but this year I’m just taking off the whole day.  It’s less stressful until I get back and have to make up the work.    

Last season didn’t go well to the tune of a 2-16 record.  Your top goal-scorer, lovely and charming Aileen Galicia, had four and those were all in the first half of the season, and she’s also graduated.  Alexa Barrera had two and those came in the first half of the final game, which wasn’t a win.  Goals allowed were also an issue, 43 to 16 Aggie total team goals.  I heard a couple of interviews with Coach Rob Baarts.  He was hoping to strengthen the defensive back line (seems like a good idea), while coordinating attacks better (rather than just Aileen charging downfield with the ball by herself). 

The Coach was also hoping for more speed with some new freshman recruits and better team conditioning overall.  He also brought in a transfer, Shea O’Connor, from Oregon State.  He felt she’d definitely help the Aggies’ attack.  Even better, the sexy was coming back into goal.  Dmitri Fong is over her injuries and would be starting.  In her interview on the team Twitter, she really came off as an impressive young woman, role-model material (and the good looks don’t hurt).    

Ron picked me up for the game and our first stop was the Pan-Am ticket office.  Once again, I’m invested in Aggie Sports for $140.  The Aggie Country Pass price, for everything except Football and Men’s Basketball, didn’t go up from last year.  Assuming I go to a bunch of games this school year, this pass will payoff.  Ron bought one too.  I think his future is a bit more up in the air than mine (like anyone knows the future), but he wants to come out to the games anyway. 

Ron did express some reservations a couple of days later.  If his caretaking job suddenly ends, his next option is cross-country truck driving.  We had some catching up to do, since we hadn’t gotten together this summer.  I’d invited him out for a dinner and a couple of movies, but he’s been working a whole bunch of hours and hasn’t taken much time off. 

There was a parking lot tailgate ending as we pulled into the soccer complex.  The courtesy table featured a new poster (as shown above) and an awesome team picture (that I’ll post for the next match).  Over at the stands, I reconnected with fellow fan and font of Aggie Sports information, Danny.  Honestly, it was terrible talking to him, because he had some bad news about Aggie Softball.  Not only had Kayla Green left before the end of the season under a cloud, and Kelsey Horton had finished her epic career, it gets worse.  Ace pitcher Samaria Diaz graduated early and left for Oregon as a transfer.  Freshman of the year Mya Felder has also left.  She was the heir apparent to Kelsey, so that really smarts.  I don’t envy Coach Rodolph trying to fill all these slots in the offseason.

There were storm clouds in the area all around.  This was making me apprehensive about the game.  Worse, the clouds were not actually covering the field.  This meant a fierce sun was beating down on everyone involved in the event.  My first mistake was not bringing an umbrella.  My second was not wearing a hat (going hatless will not make your head any cooler in the sun).  Third, I knocked over my courtesy water during the Anthem.  Fourth, I also dropped my pencil under the stands as an encore.  A bit later, Ron got up for a bit and brought me a bottle of water and had retrieved the pencil with the aid of a spry six-year-old.  God bless him. 

The grandstand was filled.  This was an encouraging sight, at first.  During player introductions, it suddenly became obvious that maybe half the crowd were Wildcat fans.  They travel well.  There was also an announcement that fans were not allowed on the field during the match, including sitting at the foot of the stands.  This seemed unnecessary since only Aggie Sports players (especially baseball and volleyball) ever sat there.  I think supporting players were now housed in a small pavilion on the north end of the field. 

Here may be the theme of this soccer season for me: It’s not the same without Aileen.  Sigh.  That hit me immediately after the match started.  I got over it eventually, but not completely.  I don’t know if anyone outside of Dmitri is going to endear themselves to me like Aileen did.  If I’m talking about Dmitri all the time in a recap, that’s a bad thing, because that means the other team is making a bunch of shots on goal.   

First Half

Without question, the luckiest break of the match for everyone occurred right after it started.  A bunch of clouds moved over the sun and cooled everything off.  The second luckiest break was that it didn’t rain during the match.  It stormed like heck later, but didn’t interfere with the proceedings.  I broke in a new little notepad from work.  It was gift that management handed out to everyone and came with a nice pen.  It worked out pretty well here in the field.  

On to the match.  The Aggies pressed the attack to start the match, but at 38’ left in the half, Dmitri made the first stop on a weak roller on the Aggie goal.  Unfortunately from here, Abilene Christian (hereafter referred to as AC) kept pressing.  32’ there was a high shot over the Aggie goal.  25’ there was a trip in the Aggie box which resulted in penalty kick.  There was something like a timeout before the shot, where Dmitri went over and talked to the coach.  (But there aren’t timeouts in soccer???)  As you’d expect, the PK resulted in a goal.  1-0 AC.  The Wildcat fans had special scoring cheer, which they used here.

Oh, I guess should have identified the goal-scorer at the time (Michelle Mulrooney), but I forgot I was supposed to do that.  I guess I’m out of practice.  The new PA might have identified her, but she was drown out by the cheering.  And also I didn’t see who committed the foul, but that’s pretty normal for me on plays at the nets, especially when there are several players involved.  I have quite a bit of respect for the people who do the official scoring for soccer matches. 

20’ Hannah Leitner made a solo attack downfield.  Where is everybody on offense?  Even Dmitri seemed quiet, instead her usual vocal encouragement and instructions.  (Although maybe crowd noise might have prevented me from hearing her if she was.)  17’ AC made three good passes going into the Aggie box, which resulted in Dmitri being caught in a one-on-one for a fairly easy goal.  2-0 AC.  And I still hadn’t remembered to this point to note opposing goalscorers (Christina Arteaga).

There was another timeout?  It might have been a hydration break since it was pretty hot out, even with the cloud cover.  Immediately out of the break, Dmitri had to make a save on a header.  A few minutes later, she made a punch out after a corner kick.  The crowd began a spontaneous “Let’s go Aggies!” cheer to encourage the team.  10’ Hannah made another solo attack after a long pass.  Both teams began mass substitutions.  At some point, I was surprised by the number of subs.  It seemed like a lot more than I normally see at a college match.  Has there been a rules change?  Is soccer taking my advice that they should be more like hockey?

8’ Shea made a great, strong left-footed kick from outside the AC box.  The goalie stopped it, but that was the first Aggie shot on goal for the season.  5’ AC back on the attack after a corner.  Dmitri punched it out again.  2’ Dmitri tipped out a high shot.  Emma Smith brought the ball back downfield and displayed some good footwork, but that was it for the half.        

  

Halftime

I missed the fan contest at the half to go to the bathroom.  It was over pretty quick, whatever it was.  However, I had my personal highlight of the match walking back to the stands as I ran into adorable Brigette Lowe from the volleyball team.  I couldn’t resist saying “Hi,” to her.  I told her I thought she was cute in her interview video on the team Twitter.  (It’s true.  She looked so happy because two-a-day practices were over.)  I also said I’d be there tomorrow for the Crimson and White Scrimmage.  Brigette was all smiles (as she often is) and graciously invited me to come down and talk to all the players after the match.  What a sweetheart.  Ron didn’t seem to believe my story when I returned to my seat.     

Second Half

By this point, an Aggie Football Fan Fest had started next door.  This was lousy scheduling, as I would have liked to have gone if it’d been after the game.  Some of the Aggie soccer crowd left, perhaps to go to it.  I was hearing the man himself, Jack Nixon, doing some announcing for the event.  Obviously, all of the AC fans stayed.      

43’ right out of the half, Emma found Shea in the box, who chipped a shot right over the AC goalie.  Gooooooooal!  It was a great kick.  The Aggies do well on those set pieces when they get the opportunity to run them.  2-1 AC. 

38’ AC was back on the attack.  Dmitri made a catch in the middle of a scrum.  35’ we got our first, “Shoot it!” from the crowd.  I knew something other than Aileen was missing from the game.  This outburst did come from an AC fan.  31’ the rather striking Lece Aviles played some tenacious defense to get a turnover.  27’ another AC corner.  There were several kicks around the net, but the ball was eventually kicked out of the Aggie box.

26’ defender Kelly Burton elbowed an AC girl into the ground.  There was no call.  I usually make notes on the good hits out on the pitch.  24’ AC goal.  It was a roller from outside the box into a corner by Shay Johnson.  This time I wrote down the scorer when it happened.  3-1 AC.  22’ Shea went to the ground on a dirty-looking ankle hook.  This resulted in a top shelf goal attempt by AC.

20’ the Aggies managed to get off a weak shot.  17’ AC had two consecutive corners.  15’ Kyleigh Cox took a long shot on the AC goal.  13’ Shea took a wide shot on net.  As it began to feel like Aggie loss today, I started watching Shea on the field.  She carries herself differently than the other players.  I’m not sure how to quantify it.  More confidence maybe, since she comes from a bigger college and conference?  I hope she can rub that confidence off on the rest of the team. 

6’ there was a serious running flying tackle on field.  It happened on the other side of the field, so I didn’t see who was involved.  Everyone was okay, but an AC player got a yellow card for it.  3’ an AC free kick on a foul just outside the Aggie box.  An Aggie defender almost redirected the ball into the net.  1’ another AC corner.  It looked like Dmitri got kicked herself, but she did catch the ball.  3-1 Abilene Christian was the final.

I don’t want to analyze this, because this game felt like a continuation of last year.  The Aggie offense was just too disorganized during the game.  I was encouraged by Shea O’Connor.  She had both of the Aggies’ shots on goal.  But, she isn’t a streak toward the goal and take a shot by yourself type like the rest of the Aggie offense.  Shea needs to be set up or have an open player to pass to in the box.  Lack of offense produces a stressed defense.  I think Dmitri Fong is still shaking off rust in her first game back.  The two goals other than the PK felt stoppable, but that’s maybe because I have so much confidence in her.  She did well otherwise.  In any case, pepper a goalie with enough shots, like today, something is going to get through.   

After the match, both teams came together and made a large circle.  It was a nice moment.  Both teams then came to the stands and waved to the crowd.  On the way out, we noticed Athletics Director Mario Moccia was there.  He’d been at the game since at least halftime.  I’m a bit surprised he wasn’t at the Football event.  In the parking lot, the tailgate grills seemed to be starting up again.  Ron and I drove by the football stadium.  I’d wanted to stop, but the Fan Fest seemed to be letting out already.  Oh, well. 

For dinner, after some waffling on my part, we tried out the new Dominos across from the Pan-Am Center.  They had a bunch of bright, cheery flags out announcing their opening.  Yes, this used to the Schlotzsky’s, which I loved so much (and especially their ice cream).  That restaurant took the place of the Dairy Queen that I also loved (especially their Blizzards).  It’s a downward spiral.  Worse, this Dominos took the place of the one that I used to occasionally walk to down the street, so now I don’t have a pizza place within walking distance from my apartment.

Ron was okay with their pizza, but the only use I have for Dominos is their Chicken Bacon Ranch sub sandwich.  They bake them in their ovens, so you’re better off calling ahead, which we didn’t do.  The good news about the new location is that they’re now a sit-down restaurant, if you want to eat there.  It was a ten-minute wait for the food and then another five minutes waiting for the sandwiches to cool off.  I’d called this sandwich, “The best sub in town.”  I was a bit nervous for the credibility of my food reviewing abilities, but after Ron’s first bite, his eyes lit up, “Dude!  That is good!”  Reputation upheld.  They don’t serve chips and breadsticks seemed like a bad choice for a sandwich, so we had no sides, but the main course was good enough.

Afterward, we had ice cream at PQ Treats, which was okay, and we chatted some more.  Well, it wasn’t exactly a successful sports outing on some levels, but it was okay.  It was a day off from work for the both of us at least.  So, one Aggie Sports recap for Fall 2019/Spring 2020 down and hopefully whole bunch more to go.