NM State Aggies vs Wyoming Cowgirls Soccer 8-25-19

(What a great team picture.)

Yow!  My metal pen was hot to the touch writing out these notes.  It was a bit warm out at the soccer complex at somewhere near 100 degrees.  Today’s game was at noon, so at least it would be cooler than later in the afternoon.  Ron was in good spirits when he picked me up.  He’d gotten over his dinner indigestion.  I’d had a rather poor night as my indigestion didn’t show up until later.  I’d only had a banana this morning and still wasn’t hungry. 

I picked up a Gatorade at the concessions, since I hadn’t hydrated well beforehand.  At the grandstand, we chatted with Danny a bit about the soccer and volleyball teams.  He mentioned goalie Dmitri Fong’s mother comes to the games and he’d talked her.  He said Dmitri was Pre-Med in her studies.  He also said that diminutive Brenda Hernandez on the volleyball team was softball’s Brandy Hernandez’s little sister.  I should have figured that out for myself, especially since I’d compared the two earlier.      

There was a smaller overall crowd than Friday.  The brutal heat might have kept some (smart) people away.  Wyoming brought a group of fans with them.  I loved their team’s jerseys with the large cowboy silhouette on them.  I might have bought one if I’d had the opportunity.  The Cowgirls (that is their name, the Cowboys are the Men’s teams’ name) were a generally pleasant-looking team.  I liked the light ginger one, Elle Webber, probably mostly because she was playing near the stands for most of the first half.  They were in good spirits.  One of the girls was rocking out to the Aggie players’ intro song.  The Aggie starters came charging out on to the field, ready to play.

First Half

Overall, I think you could call the first half a defensive one.  Wyoming probably dominated the time of possession and had five corner kicks, but only had one shot on goal.  The Aggies had nothing and virtually no offense.  I’ll hit a few highlights.

43’ left in the half, Hannah Leitner rushed Wyoming goalie Hannah Lee while she was recovering a ball.  The Aggie bench loved the effort.  41’ Dmitri made her first stop with a catch at the chest.  39’ Wyoming had a corner and scored in a scrum at the net.  Interestingly named Indianna Asimus from Australia was credited with the goal, though Ron thought it actually ricocheted off an Aggie.  It seemed like the Aggies lost track of the ball when it got to the net.  1-0 Wyoming.

35’ Shea O’Connor brought it back downfield and took a hard shot at a difficult angle.  32’ there was a massive collision between two players on the other side of the field where it was difficult for me to see who was involved.  The Aggies got a free kick and put it in the Wyoming box, but didn’t get a shot off.  30’ I finally heard Dmitri shouting out directions.  She seemed quiet in the last game, or maybe there was more crowd noise and I just couldn’t hear her. 

28’ captain Kelly Burton took down a solo attack with a hard tackle just outside the Aggie box.  This was a physical game.  Dmitri would pull down a shot in midair.  Right after, Kelly tripped a Cowgirl.  You could hear their coach all the way across the field, “Why is that not a foul!”  A fan in the stands answered back, “Because she dove!”  There was more rough play and the coach shouted to the ref, “What’s a foul!”      

22’ hydration break for everyone on the field.  That was probably a good idea.  A cool breeze teased us for a moment, but disappeared right after.  Substitutions came right after the break.  Like the last game, there were wholesale changes on field.  18’ off another Wyoming corner, Dmitri made a dive stop on a roller, but the Cowgirls got another corner from the other side right after.  Two girls collided hard in the box.  The Aggies eventually cleared the ball out. 

8’ Talia Sclafani entered for the Cowgirls and their fans erupted.  It seemed like more than just mom and dad cheering.  Maybe she’s a popular player?  5’ the Aggies finally got some offense as Jordan Gregory took a shot.  2’ Emma Smith tripped a Cowgirl near midfield for a free kick.  1’ left and the Wyoming reserves left the field.  That was a bit of a surprise.

Halftime

Ron left to find some shade and took his umbrella with him.  I got my umbrella out.  Yow!  Everything was sizzlingly hot.  Danny came over and chatted some more.  He felt this team was quicker than last year.  There was a fan contest between two little girls at the midfield circle kicking balls.  I’m not sure what it was about.  Over at the football berm, a girls team marched up the hill in a line.  I’m not sure which team, maybe softball.  After they got to the top, they got a long lecture from their coach and then walked back down the hill.   

Second Half

This half was much more active as the Aggies picked up their offense.  Physical play continued.  I have a bunch of notes here. 

44’ the half started with a bang as Maddie Franklin got involved in a collision right in front of the stands.  43’ the Aggies got their first corner.  Hannah took a long shot on goal.  A bit later, she managed to roll a Cowgirl player on to ground with a body tackle.  39’ Hannah charged at the Wyoming net by herself.  The goalie tackled her, but no foul was called.  37’ the Aggies got numbers together for a rush, but it was broken up with a foul.  35’ Andrea Ridgely charged and took a shot.  A defender stopped the shot with her head.

34’ Shea had a wide shot in front of the net.  The Aggies got a corner right after, but didn’t get a shot off.  33’ Hannah got off a shot.  Hannah the Wyoming goalie caught it.  Wyoming managed to convert the stop into a downfield attack and a pair of corners on the Aggie end.  30’ Hannah was fouled.  Aggie Coach Baarts and Hannah’s dad were both yelling at the ref. 

28’ Jess McDow opened fire from near midfield and actually forced the Cowgirl goalie to have to catch it in front of the net.  She’s got a heck of leg.  25’ one Aggie attacker, four Cowgirl defenders.  You guys have to start attacking together.  22’ hydration break.

With that, the Aggies got a second wind.  20’ Gooooooal!  Alexa Barerra rolled it in from in front of the net off a pass from Eli Gonzalez.  The play developed really quickly.  I was even watching and just about missed it.  I think the Cowgirls fell asleep on defense for a moment.  I have noticed since last year, the Aggies are pretty good on set plays coming out of a break or at the start of a half.  1-1 tied. 

19’ Eli took a top shelf shot.  It hit the crossbar and went back into play.  There was a header as a followup shot.  16’ a girl fan came in wearing black Sunday dress.  Though probably not the best thing to wear here, it added a little class.  15’ Wyoming came back with a good coordinated attack with a couple of passes.  Dmitri caught the shot.  13’ the Aggies got a corner which was caught by the goalie.  11’ there was another good attack by Wyoming.  Dmitri caught a weak shot and a followup shot went wide.

I’m getting overwhelmed by the smell of lighter fluid.  Somebody’s barbequing nearby.  If somebody doused me in barbeque sauce, I’d be barbequing in my seat as well.  The Aggie mascot kid, whose name I don’t know, came by and shook mine and Ron’s hands without a word.  I guess we’ve finally made it as true Aggie fans.  Behind us, I could hear, presumably, parents shouting out very technical advice to their daughters.  I turned to Ron, “Everyone else here knows more about soccer than we do.”

4’ Aggie defender, Annalise Pacheco, made a beautiful tackle in the box to break up what would have been a one-on-one with the Dmitri right in front of the goal.  Wow, that was a big play.  2’ Shea took a tumble after a midair collision.  1’ Dmitri stopped a header to end regulation.  We were still tied.

First Overtime

Boy, do I hate writing those words on a 100-degree day at the pitch.  Nobody involved in this game wanted this.  I knew that they’d probably go to overtime in the event of a tie.  Not everyone else did though.  For example, the PA started playing the Aggie fight song, usually signifying the end of a game.  Much of the crowd got up and left.  The PA cut off the music and quickly explained the rules for overtime, but it was too late.  They were gone.  Ron seized the break to go get some more water.  He came back and reported that the courtesy water barrel was empty, but he did bring me a cold bottle of water.  God bless him.  I finished off the last gulp of my now 100-degree Gatorade.

The ten-minute OT began.  Things got downright chippie on the field.  7’ Eli was injured.  She didn’t come out, but the trainers did have to go tend to her.  6’ Annalise took a wide shot on goal.  5’ I swear I saw an Aggie player pulled down to the ground by her hair in the Wyoming box, but I don’t think anyone else did.  There was also a trip and a collision. 

3’ a ball made it into the stands.  Stay alert.  Wyoming had an open shot right after, but it went high.  1’ there was a trip and/or handball on field that both groups of fans were yelling to the ref about.  Yes, the remaining fans were also getting testy.  The Aggies took two shots near the Wyoming goal before time expired.

Second Overtime

You knew where this was going when I wrote “First Overtime” above, right?  I was watching Shea out on the field.  She looked kind of depressed.  That’s just not a good sign for someone who should be your star offensive player.  I’d noticed she was getting more attention in play from the Wyoming players than from her teammates.  All of the players were run down by this point. 

There was a nice-looking family sitting beside us.  The wife started chatting with Ron.  Asking why I was taking notes, Ron told her I had a blog, and I gave her the address.  They turned out to be Maddie’s parents.  Asking why we were there, the best we could say is that were Aggie Sports fans.  Later I told Ron, “We’re going to have to come up with a better reason why we’re out here.” 

The Aggies mostly dominated the first overtime.  Wyoming, predictably, dominated most of the second.  8’ off a Wyoming corner, Dmitri jumped up and made a two-hand slap to get the ball out.  The fans were getting progressively more vocal.  I’m hearing, “Shoot it!”  5’ Dmitri stopped a roller.  4’ Dmitri stopped a point blank shot.  3’ Dmitri caught a long shot.  It’s always a bad sign when you’re talking a lot about your own goalie in a recap. 

The Aggies took the offensive late.  2’ diminutive Jody Hernandez, apparently no relation to the other tiny Aggie sports Hernandez players, took a long shot.  1’ Eli made a final Aggie charge.  1-1 draw.  Thank goodness we all spent another 20 minutes in the heat to (not) settle this one.  I blame soccer in general.

Honestly, I don’t feel that bad about this, because Wyoming seemed like a better team. (Edit: they were Mountain West co-champions last season.)  Ron observed that the Aggies seemed to be randomly kicking the ball, while the Cowgirls were making passes to each other.  Shots on goal were 5 to 2 in favor of Wyoming.  Dmitri Fong gets my gameball.  I think she was a bit rusty from coming back from injury, but really got into it after that first goal.  She was right back to the Dmitri I remembered.  Annalise Pacheco also pretty much saved the game with her defensive play at the end of the second half. 

I couldn’t resist going up the stands afterward to meet Dmitri’s mom to congratulate her on her daughter’s play.  I also told her how impressed I was with Dmitri when I met her a couple of times.  Dmitri is actually studying Biology right now, but is considering being Pre-Med.  I’m sure she’ll do well, whatever she decides on.  Now that I’ve met Dmitri’s mom, I’ll start getting my cows, pigs, and goats ready for marriage negotiations.  Time to look up some wedding planners.  (She’s a fine young woman; it’s a natural thought.)

While we wait for the nuptials, Ron and I went to Jack-in-the-Box.  After having leftover barbeque sausages at work on Thursday, a Chicken Bacon Ranch sandwich at Dominos Friday, and a Barbeque Chicken pizza at Dions, I flatly refused anymore rich, greasy food for at least a week.  I’d like to have tried Chick-fil-a’s new macaroni and cheese, which has gotten good reviews, but it was Sunday and they weren’t open. 

The only other non-gut-busting fast food I could think of was Jack’s breakfast menu.  I had enough of my appetite back to enjoy the little pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and bacon meal.  Ron had been really suffering in the heat with his extra padding.  His appetite was unaffected, so he had a small, but well-ornamented two-patty burger.  He said it needed more barbeque sauce.  Ugh.