Wednesday, September 25, 2019

NM State Aggies vs NAU Lumberjacks Soccer 9-22-19

Aggie Goalie Extraordinaire Dmitri Fong

I felt sick the night before this game.  Dad had called me Saturday evening and asked how the Aggie/Lobo Football game went.  I cringed.  I’d completely forgotten about it.  Since I’d gotten up early to listen to Aggie Volleyball, I’d probably mentally misplaced listening to another game on the radio afterward.  I watched the late news to see the outcome.  Oh crap, did I miss one!  The final was 55-52 Lobos!  What a game!  While a disappointing (to say the least) loss for the 0-4 Aggies, it’s very encouraging to see their offense finally bust out.  Coach Martin had said they were a high-powered air-raid team. 

So much for my Aggie fan credentials.  Suitability chastened, I went out to today’s Aggie Soccer match against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.  The weather was lovely, being warm and sunny with a breeze.  (And I wasn’t wearing a hat and somehow manage to sunburn my unprotected forehead even with very limited exposure.)  There was free Caliches ice cream outside.  That was a bonus.

Surprisingly, Aggie Softball was playing next door.  Ah, I’d been checking their Twitter every week to see if they were playing any exhibition games here.  There I was at home this morning watching an old Godzilla movie.  If I’d known, I’d have come early.  Inside, I asked an attendant, who told me Softball was playing El Paso Community College, (ahem) my alma mater.  Danny was sitting in his usual spot.  He’d asked some Softball players working at a volleyball game about exhibition games and they didn’t know.  They didn’t even tell perennial Aggie fan, Tom, they were playing today.  He was disappointed.  I am too.  (They did post a fall schedule right after the last time I’d checked.) 

After a great crowd for the Lobo game, it was back to another light crowd today.  I might blame the Cowboys game going on at the same time.  At least there were still more Aggie fans than NAU fans there.  Xitlaly Hernandez was not in the lineup.  She’s still injured.  I wonder if she’ll be back.  Strangely, team captain, Kelly Burton didn’t start.      

First Half
The Aggies started off on offense.  43’ left in the half, they were on the attack, but didn’t get a shot on goal.  NAU came right back at 42’.  (I was having trouble getting into taking notes at the start of the match.)  41’ defender Lece Aviles got pushed down.  Coach Baarts had singled her out for playing the entire double overtime match against UTEP in the postgame interview. 

Sitting at the south end of the stands, I could clearly hear goalie Dmitri Fong shouting out instructions to the defenders and telling the others to, “Get up!”  40’ NAU keeper Taryn Benham pushed out a shot.  37’ forward Shea O’Connor made a solo attack and had a roller that just went wide.  This was already more offense than I’d seen in the last game.  37’ Hannah Rivera, who I don’t think had started before, blocked out a shot in the Aggie box to break up an attack.  35’ Emma Smith took a shot from the wing.  Taryn stopped it on the ground.  The Aggies then had a corner, but didn’t make a shot on it.        

Yikes!  Am I seeing Aggie Volleyball players Megan Hart (beautiful as always) and Kiley Tonge (also nice-looking) spread out on a blanket on the grassy hill behind the north goal?  I think so, but they were at the other end of the field.  (Or now I’m hallucinating and seeing Megan everywhere.)  They were dressed to work on their tans.  (That is to say, showing some skin.)  They had a dog with them and another girl joined them, but I couldn’t identify her as a teammate.  I hate to tell them, but if they were trying to attract guys, the baseball team wasn’t there and wasn’t coming.  By the half, they’d figured that out (or needed to get to practice) and left.  Fair-skinned Canadian Megan is going to need more time in the sun to get that tan going.

It was an effort to keep watching the game on the field with that distraction.  30’ Hannah Leitner got taken down hard in the ‘Jacks’ box.  She was slow to get up.  29’ Dmitri caught a shot.  28’ Dmitri caught another.  She was getting peppered.  24’ NAU got a free kick after knocking down Corey Kizer.  At least that’s the way me and the crowd saw it.  The shot went high and wide. 

22’ Dmitri stopped a bouncer.  19’ Lece harassed a ‘Jack at the top of the Aggie box and got a turnover.  But, NAU got it right back and Whitney Winans made a good chip shot that just went high.  18’ there were mass Aggie subs, including Kelly.  14’ more Aggie subs came in.  I don’t quite understand this strategy.  13’ an NAU player tried to trip Jody Hernandez and came up limping.  12’ an NAU corner, Dmitri made a catch on the follow-up shot.  11’ Dmitri stopped a roller.  Man, it’s tiring just writing about all of her stops.

8’ the Aggies got a corner kick.  Eli Gonzalez made a header pass and Taryn stopped a close shot.  5’ Dmitri slapped an attack away and caught the follow-up in her gut.  That was easily her best stop of the day.  Brilliant!  4’ here she was pressured on a back pass and had to quickly kick it out-of-bounds.  (God, do I cringe every time a player kicks back to the goalie.  It’s an accident waiting to happen.)  2’ senior Amy Gluczynski, who I haven’t seen much of, was literally dragged down.  The ball went to NAU.  Me and most of the rest of the crowd boo’d.  1’ Lece did a good job keeping the ball away on defense from an attacker.  Time’s up.  Nil-nil.

Halftime
Even with the increased Aggie offensive pressure, the Lumberjacks still had 6 shots on goal, while the Aggies had none.  A Sports Marketing girl had had to comb the stands twice to find a couple of guys to do the “horse-riding” contest.  They made it a bit harder than the last game.  I walked out to use the bathroom and found out Softball had just ended.  So much for any bonus coverage.  I’m curious to see the team after losing some seniors and having a couple of defections.           

During the first half, Danny had mentioned a friend of his who used to come out and watch Women’s sports for the, “Wrong reasons.”  “What are those?” I asked.  Danny said his friend was just ogling the girls.  “Well, I enjoy the competition, but I am girl-watching here too, you know,” I said.  Danny knows that I am seriously watching the sports on some level.  The note-taking sort of gives me away.   

Apparently, this guy though was only here for the ogling, which made it sort of unacceptable.  No offense, but I’d say there are better options that don’t involve sitting in the sun or leaving your house just to look at girls.  Try Twitch for example.  I gave Danny my stock answer for noticing female athletes’ looks: I’ll stop looking as soon as women stop throwing themselves at male athletes.  I suppose the main difference is that fangirls might actually have some chance of sleeping with their favorite male players if they can position themselves the right place with them.  Am I being overly cynical?  Meh. 

Second half
Before I returned to my seat, I picked up and threw away a water bottle that had been sitting in front row of the stands that had been there for three games.  It had some kind of brown fluid inside that I did not examine.   On that sour note, we resume play.

The Aggies came out with one of their set plays.  44’ Hannah Leitner received a good centering pass and took a shot that just missed.  43’ NAU took a hook kick at the Aggie goal that missed out.  42’ Dmitri had to dive to stop a shot in the box.  40’ Dmitri caught a close shot.  38’ I heard a comment behind me after the next play, “That was a joke.”  Emma had the goalie out and beat, but missed the shot.  She grabbed her shirt collar and pulled it up and over her face.  The Aggies still had a corner.  Katie Martinez took a header shot that was caught.  Taryn was earning it in the NAU goal.

36’ Dmitri had to make a couple of grabs at a ball on the ground to get it away from an attacker.  The near misses kept getting closer.  33’ Corey took a header off a free kick that missed.  32’ Dmitri caught a hard shot from a corner.  30’ a couple of hard NAU fouls advanced the ball up-field for the Aggies.  Jess took a free kick outside the ‘Jack box that Taryn caught. 

29’ “This is it!” commented whoever was behind me as Dmitri looked beat on a close shot, but it went wide.  28’ off an NAU corner, for a couple of agonizing seconds, the ball pinballed in right in front of the net.  Lece kicked it out.  Another corner followed, and Dmitri caught it.  25’ she came under pressure on another ball rolling back to her.  25’ Jess made a partial block that allowed Dmitri to make a catch.

22’ Eli to Shea in the NAU box.  Her kick was blocked out and led to an Aggie corner.  They didn’t get a shot off it.  21’ Madison Montgomery tripped Hannah, who was determined to get to the net with the ball just outside the NAU box.  It set up a free kick, but no damage.  19’ a crossing pass to Hannah went out, but set up an Aggie corner.  Shea took a pass for a header shot that missed high.  16’ Shea and Taryn collided in mid-air in front of the NAU goal going for the ball.

15’ off an NAU corner, Dmitri punched out one shot.  Kiana Miyazato came in with a follow-up shot that finally went in.  It was just one-too-many shots, and Dmitri could not be everywhere at once.  My heart broke for her.  She was playing so well.  1-0 Lumberjacks.

14’ the ‘Jacks kept up the pressure and made a crossing shot that just missed.  12’ Dmitri kept her head in the game and caught a long bouncer from outside the box.  11’ Emma, on an onsides breakaway, was tripped in the box and went down.  No call.  9’ Alexa, who just came in, took a close shot that was just caught.  8’ Jess took a free kick from way outside the box that Taryn had to field.  7’ Alexa was taken out.  I really don’t understand this strategy, unless she really wasn’t good to play today at all. 

A middle-aged couple by the main grandstands cheered for Shea.  I’m guessing they were her parents.  Her mom is nice-looking.  Hey, I’m staring another defeat in the face here.  I have to salvage this experience somehow.  5’ NAU corner, Dmitri caught a hard, close shot.  3’ she caught a free kick.  1’ Shea was tripped going at the NAU goal.  Finally, Annalise Pacheco took a last second shot from way out of range for the Aggies.  1-0 Lumberjacks final.


Yes, I’m cracking up after another Aggie loss.  I’m not doing any more Women of Aggie Sports erotic fanfiction as punishment though.  (Just a joke.)  Here’s your stats: shots on goal were 9 to 6 for NAU, with the Aggies going 6 to 5 on corners.  This is an offensive improvement.  But, I keep seeing opposing teams with multiple players attacking in concert, and the Aggies with only one or two with little coordination between them. 

NAU basically has about the same record as the Aggies, and they’ve allowed a lot more goals.  This doesn’t bode well for upcoming conference play.  About the only thing I can say for sure is that, without Dmitri Fong in goal, these last two matches would have been 5-0.  (No offense to Mia Montano.)  I hope Dmitri’s not taking all of this personally and is enjoying life outside of the games (unlike me).  Honestly, I thought the Aggies could score and tie it up, but I doubted they’d be able to score again, and I didn’t want to sit through another double overtime loss.     

Leaving the grandstand, a couple of little girls there with their dads, saw each other, and ran into each other’s arms and hugged.  True friends.  How adorable.  There are more important things in life than sports.  (I can write about nice things too.)  Driving out of the parking lot, I suddenly noticed that the park next to the baseball field has big light posts there.  So, the park has lighting, but the soccer field doesn’t?  I hope Coach Baarts doesn’t find out about this and raise a fuss. 

Nothing like a meal at Raising Canes to make oneself feel better after an Aggie loss.  I noticed the place is done up with a lot of Aggie sponsorship now.  I think they took down the high school stuff (unless I’m mis-remembering).  I went over to Sonic next door for a Blast.  Even the small size was actually way more ice cream than I wanted.  (I can’t believe I’m writing those words.)  Aggie Soccer and Volleyball are out-of-town this weekend, but Softball has an exhibition scheduled.  I check that out.  I’m remember to check Aggie Football for sure.

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