NM State Aggies vs Nevada Wolfpack Soccer 9-9-22

Ron and I came to this match directly from Aggie Volleyball, which was already in progress.  Before getting to the match, let me take care of one bit of housekeeping.  After a pair of shutouts last week (9-1-22 and 9-3-22), goalie Makenna Gottschalk was named WAC Defensive player of the week.  Nice job.

 

First Half

It was a beautiful night outside with only a slight breeze.  It’s been so nice so far this season, it would have been criminal to not go out to these games.  We looked at the scoreboard first upon entering and were pleased to see the Aggies were up 1-0 over the Nevada Wolfpack with about 10 minutes left in the half.

 

The stands had a reasonable crowd listed officially at under 400.  From listening to some chatter at halftime, the stands were nearly empty at the start of the game.  Volleyball had something to do with that, but there was something else going in town that was also drawing away people, maybe high school football.  (Or a party.  I never found out.) 

 

I was surprised to see a co-worker in the stands, Chuck.  He was there to pick up some season tickets (Men’s Basketball?  Football?) and was given souvenir foam seat pads and tickets to this game.  We’re all planning on going to a Chihuahuas game in a couple of weeks, but Chuck said he might not be able to go.  (I wish he’d said that before we bought the tickets.)

 

He’d seen the goal, but couldn’t identify the scoring player.  Likewise, the halftime chatter also raved about the goal, but the guy speaking didn’t know who it was either.  He said, “The goalie had no chance on it.”  From the official scoring it was in the 6’ by Bianca Chacon with an assist by Xitlaly Hernandez.  From the Twitter video with Duke Keith doing the call, Bianca fired a bullet from the outside the box. 

 

From here, we pick up with the live action.  7’ left in the half, Xitlaly out-muscled a larger girl for the ball.  She is one petite, but tough customer.  Elsewhere on the field, a Nevada player was injured and had to come out.  The crowd was more fascinated with a bright orange full moon coming up over the next door football stadium.  6’ the Aggies attacked the Nevada goal, but two Aggies took each other out in the box.  Easy on the aggression there, ladies.  Chuck mentioned that the Aggies had had some other good chances and that Makenna had made a couple of good saves earlier.   

 

1’ Sydnee Johnson, another smaller Aggie player, knocked down a larger player at midfield.  These girls are tough.  The PA lost count during the 10-second countdown, but the half otherwise ended uneventfully.  One of the Wolfpack players had an extended animated conversation with one of the refs coming off the field.  I hadn’t seen that before.  That’s probably not recommended. 

 

Second Half

Chuck had to leave at the half.  There was no show and no Band, though there was a guy with a drum on one of the side bleachers.  The Nevada players scrimmaged with each other during the break.  On the Aggie side, Coach Baarts was giving the team a demonstrative talk on the bench. 

 

41’ left in the game, Bianca made an attack.  Nevada goalie, Kendal Stovall, fell on it.  On the counter, Makenna made a good catch on a Nevada attack.  37’ Bianca got Yellow Carded for knocking a player down at midfield.  (I had that play going the other way). 

 

36’ Nevada was making a serious push this half.  Landy Williams kicked away a shot.  35’ Makenna stopped a shot off a corner kick, though the ref whistled the play dead before the catch.  31’ a Nevada player fell in the Aggie box.  Was it a trip?  The ref made no call. 

 

30’ The Aggies started their push back.  Off a great pass, Xitlaly made a kick that just went over the goal.  29’ Sydnee was dropped in the Nevada box.  There was no call there, either.  Aggie Football was here around the stands.  I thought about telling one player that walked past to beat UTEP on Saturday, but I’m pretty sure everyone’s been telling the team that this season. 

 

23’ Loma McNeese (pictured) knocked down a player to take a shot, but it went wide.  18’ Xitlaly took a header shot that went high and wide.  16’ Mya Hammack was open on the wing, but missed the shot.  She put her head in her hands afterward. 

 

14’ Xitlaly took a free kick outside the Nevada.  Jena Johannes jumped in with the header.  Gooooal!  2-0 Aggies.  The PA also mentioned that this activated the Raising Canes promotion for free chicken.  (That’s down from last week when it required three goals.)  We’re not done.  13’ Makenna caught a corner from a Nevada attack.  On a broken field counter, Mya and Megan Ormson passed downfield and then connected with Loma, who charged it in for another goal.  Honestly, I didn’t see who scored at the time, as Loma was dogpiled after the shot.

 

11’ Nevada came back.  On a free kick, the ball got loose in the Aggie box as it got away from Makenna.  The ball was kicked out and went downfield.  A whistle stopped play without an immediate cause near the action.  Back at the Aggie goal, one of the Wolfpack girls had taken a shot on the head and gone down.  The trainers came out for her.  Makenna brought over her water bottle to her.  The crowd gave the girl a nice hand as she was helped off.

 

Right after play resumed, Xitlaly fed Sydnee, who took the ball down the center.  She went right past a couple of defenders and beat the goalie for another score.  4-0 Aggies.  That was three goals in the three minutes! 

 

After that, both teams made some mass subs, pretty much conceding the outcome.  Makenna made two more good saves to preserve the shutout.  Bella Garcia, one of my favorites, was in.  Her damaged wrist was bandaged up again.  I wondered if it was reinjured or if it’s a chronic injury.  Time ran out.  Aggies win 4-0!  Then the lights suddenly went out.  Then the music kicked off and multicolored lights flashed around the stadium.  This was a cool enhancement.          

 

The Shots on Goal were a fairly close, 6 to 3, but the Shots were 14 to 7.  I can finally pick an easy Player of the Game: Xitlaly Hernandez with her three assists.  The team seemed even more exuberant than their previous wins this season, even UTEP.  They gave the crowd a cheerful wave after the game.  I, of course, take full credit.  I was wearing my “Lucky” shirt that I’d worn to the last two games (which unfortunately didn’t work for Volleyball earlier). 

On that matter, I saw Sydney McIntosh from the Volleyball team come in for the game.  Why didn’t Coach Jordan put her in, or the half dozen other unused hitters, when the team was flagging?  Meanwhile, I wondered out loud where Athletic Director Mario Moccia was this evening.  Ron had seen him.  He was selling t-shirts at the Soccer game at the stand by the gate.  That’s doing whatever it takes to support Aggie Athletics.

 

Since ice cream is for winners and me and Ron still had that garlic taste in our mouths from dinner, we went over to Caliches (since the closer and cheaper PQ Treats was now out-of-business, RIP).  I still had a coupon game ticket to buy one and get one free.  The frozen custard left a good taste in our mouths, as did the Soccer win.  We’d be looking for Volleyball redemption tomorrow morning.