NM State Aggies vs LA Tech Bulldogs Soccer 9-17-23

Lauren Machuca looking friendly.

I was making some sacrifices to go to today’s Aggie Soccer game against the LA Tech Bulldogs.  I walked out on watching a sportscar race, listening to the final El Paso Chihuahuas home game (they lost in extras), and Twitch streamer, Kiwhiskey, who I’m in love with.  Also, the Chiefs were playing I could have gone to watch them with my dad.  However, there were going to be autographs after the game, so that made this an easy choice.  I thought about taking a radio to listen to the Chihuahuas game, but decided I’d do better to just focus on one thing at a time for a change.

 

The ticket girls asked about Ron.  I told them he was out driving a truck.  I also haven’t heard from him for several weeks.  At the courtesy table, they were offering Aggie Soccer scarves.  Since I already had one (and had given one away), I declined.  (I felt bad.  The girl had a box of these things to dispense.)  It looked like a new design. 

 

I talked to Marketing Director Nicole Sack there.  During the Football game last night, Coach Kill was reported to have been out sick during the week.  (Which would explain why he wasn’t there for the Tuesday radio show.)  Little detail was given, but he was at the game.  I asked about him.  She surprised me.  She thought I was talking about him getting injured on sidelines during the game, which I didn’t know about.  The Coach Kill is apparently willing to die for the team. 

 

As usual, I’ll recap some other Aggies Sports.  Last night, Aggie Football played the Lobos in Albuquerque.  Unlike last year when this game was played in Las Cruces, there was no riot in the stands, but there was controversy.  The Aggie Pride of New Mexico Band was charged $20 a seat to attend this game!  Words fail me.  Really.  A few big donors would fork out the $5,400 extortion fee.  Regardless, the Aggies showed their motivation and delivered a stirring 27-17 victory.  Serves the Lobos right to have to watch the Aggie Band celebrate in their stadium.

 

Aggie Volleyball won three-in-a-row at a tournament in Illinois.  Ryleigh Whitekettle scored in double digits in each game.  Starr Williams had 23 kills in one game.  Then in a tournament in Tucson, they took the first match against Alabama State with Kacia Brown leading the way.  They lost the nightcap to host Arizona, but did take a set from them.  Ryleigh, Starr, and Kacia scored in double digits.  Bianca Perez had 31 assists.

 

The Aggies also lost to Long Beach State the next day, 3-1.  Ryleigh, Starr, and Mari Sharp had double digit kills.  All three setters had double digit assists.  The final set went to 35-33, a nail-biting monster.  Freshman Maggie Lightheart (and my favorite on the team) served up an ace in extra points.  Coach Jordan was actually happy with the team afterward.    

 

As for Aggie Soccer, since the home game loss against UNLV, the Aggies lost 3-1 to UNM and 3-0 to USC on the road.  The loss to the Lobos was disappointing.  The loss to the Trojans was slightly encouraging as it wasn’t a more terrible loss.  Karolanne Lafortune started in goal for both games. 

 

Back to today’s game, it was sunny, but with some clouds in the area.  There was a light breeze keeping things cool.  (And I got sunburned where I missed putting on sunblock.)  Fan Danny was here today.  I sat down with him.  The LAT girls warmed up in front of us.  There was a light crowd today at just over 300.  The Band wasn’t here today.  (They couldn’t afford the seats.)  I didn’t see any kids teams out, but there were some kids.

 

Karolanne did start in goal of the Aggies.  She was wearing crimson with the team in white.  The LAT goalie, Laerke Holst, was in baby blue with her team in bright blue.  Usually, the goalie is in totally different colors.  I noticed Sydnee Johnson wasn’t suited up to play, but was on the sidelines.  Lastly, the PA introduced LAT as the “Lady Bulldogs.”  Their website says, “Bulldogs.”  I remembered that the last time I wrote about LA Tech was in 2018, when their Women’s Basketball team played UTEP.  Then, they were the Lady Techsters.   

 

First Half

43’ left in the half, LAT took the first shot.  It was a weak shot on goal that was easily scooped up (and wasn’t counted as a shot on goal).  They followed that up with a free kick over the Aggie goal.  40’ the Aggies made their first attack with some good passing downfield, but it didn’t result in a shot. 

 

On field, I noticed LAT was fielding a 5’3” player, Tal Faingezicht from Israel, and Tomoyo Kuroyanagi, a player from Japan.  Mya Hammack, my favorite on the Aggies, was now playing midfield.  Playing near the stands, I could hear her talking a lot to her teammates with instructions.  Xitlaly Hernandez was now back on defense. 

 

37’ Meredith Scott was on the attack with only one defender on her.  She took a shot across the goal, but there was no one on the other side.  30’ a ball flew into the stands and bounced off an umbrella.  I think my fingers just barely stopped hurting from my last encounter with such a ball. 

 

Right after that, Gia Valenti took a chip shot at the top of the LAT box that went right over the goalie.  1-0 Aggies!  Beautiful shot!  27’ Bianca Chacon took a free kick that went over the goal.  25’ Bianca got another free kick, but a little closer to the goal.  Holst caught the shot.  24’ the Aggies had a corner kick.  Brooke Schultz and Madita Ehrig (from Germany, a bit less than half of their roster is international) went down together in the box.  The play was whistled dead and the players took a hydration break.  Ehrig got the worst of the encounter.  It looked like a shot to the head.  28’ LAT came back on offense and took a shot that stuck into an advertising sign to the right of the goal. 

 

18’ Meredith and Tal had a hard collision on the near sideline.  The crowd could hear Meredith taking the worst of the hit.  She popped back up and pleaded with ref Jonathan Stone.  Stone sounded and looked like a right proper English soccer hooligan.  “Here now!  You two were giving it to each other!  Play on!”  I admit.  I was loving this guy every time I heard him.  I was actually kind of glad and band wasn’t there and there wasn’t a big crowd so I could.  Unfortunately, a couple of minutes later, Meredith took an elbow in the back from Tal.

 

12’ Shila Rasoul got a one-on-one against Holst.  They got tangled together at the top of the box before Shila could take a shot.  9’ LAT had a free kick outside of the Aggie box.  The shot went over the net.  A couple of minutes later, they got a corner.  That shot went out.  That was the last major action of the half.

 

Halftime

A couple of guys behind us were talking about scheduling and C-USA.  (This was Soccer’s first conference game.)  Danny and I had been discussing this earlier as well.  We were a well-informed group of fans.  Danny went out and got a hot dog, which were being sold for a $1.  I wish I’d known that earlier.  I’d mostly skipped breakfast and lunch and was waiting to get back home to eat.        

 

There were two contestants for dizzy goal-shooting.  They didn’t seem dizzy running to the goals after spinning, but they both missed all three shots badly.  Valerie Guha spent halftime warming up on field.  She’d start in goal for the second half.  Before the half started, a dozen t-shirts were tossed to the crowd.  It was a pretty generous day for giveaways.  Shila was dancing to the PA music in front of us before the second half started. 

 

Second Half

44’ Meredith and a LAT player (maybe Tal) were really going at it on the far side of the field right off the bat.  The ref broke them up.  43’ LAT had a free kick.  Val made an easy catch on it.  42’ after a long kick downfield, Meredith passed to Loma McNeese in front of the goal for an easy tap in.  2-0 Aggies!  That looked pretty easy.  During the play, Danny had offered me some of his M&M’s and missed the play.  “See if I offer you anything again.”

 

40’ LAT came right back.  Xitlaly and Jena Johanes took out Lauren Egbuloniu in the Aggie box and fouled her.  (Jena took the yellow card.)  Lauren took the penalty kick and made it 2-1 Aggies.  39’ the Bulldogs had a breakaway.  Val dove to stop the first shot, but a follow up shot was buried by Avery Kyle.  We were tied at 2-2.  That was three goals in five minutes.

 

Valerie was vocal for the whole half.  Right after the second goal, everyone could hear her shouting to her teammates, “Bring the pain!”  32’ Tati Jerman was in.  She had a good look on goal, but her shot went high.  27’ back to the other end, Val came out and blocked a shot.  26’ Val half tackled a player in the box to make a stop. 

 

23’ the Aggies got a corner.  Mya took a shot that went high and wide.  21’ an Aggie free kick outside the LAT box.  Mya and ref argued briefly before it.  She didn’t win.  Mya took the kick and Loma made a header pass from the left side of the goal.  Ariana Leamons took the pass and made a header in front of the net for the score.  Aggies back up 3-2!  Loma was shaken up on the play and came out.  She would come back in later.

 

18’ great downfield pass to Bianca near the LAT goal, but the play was broken up.  16’ Xitlaly was given a yellow card just outside the box.  She pushed down a player on a rush.  On the shot, Val fell on a roller.  13’ Shila was on a breakaway.  Holst came way out to stop her.  Shila went down hard like she’d been slapped into the ground.

 

9’ the Aggies got a free kick, which led to a corner.  Loma, back in a couple of minutes before, took a header shot that went out.  5’ Bianca took a hard shot that hit the LAT crossbar.  The ball went straight down.  Shila caught it on the rebound and headed it in.  Aggies up 4-2!

 

Don’t get comfortable.  The players on both sides were talking to each other.  Unlike previously in the game, now it was all general encouragement.  The teams were telling themselves to be tough.  3’ LAT got another penalty kick.  There was no argument on it.  I think it was a handball.  Carmen Suarez cashed it in to make it 4-3.  Two more yellow cards were issued as the clock ran down.  2’ Xitlaly got one for going over the back of a Bulldog.  The free kick was caught.  An LAT player went down in the Aggie box, but there was no call. 

 

1’ the ball went into the stands again.  A fan promptly returned it to the field to a Bulldog player, who thanked him.  Fans around the guy booed him.  Under a minute left, there was an all-out scrum in the Aggie box involving nearly everyone on the field.  No fouls were called.  Val fell on a literal last-second shot.  She stayed on the ground, hugging the ball, for a full minute after the final whistle.  The Aggies squeak it out, 4-3!

 

Mya went over and made friends with the Stone the ref after the match.  Well, that was what it looked like.  LA Tech had the advantage, 6 to 5, in shots on goal.  The Aggies had the corners 3 to 1.  Loma McNeese looked good with a goal and an assist.  The Aggies had four well-executed goals and gave up one good goal.  Unfortunately giving up those two penalty kicks was nearly a disaster.  I’m sure Coach Baarts will be telling the team that they have to be smarter on defense.  

The 2023 Autograph signature card

Autographs

I was gratified that I wasn’t the only adult in line.  (Actually, the adults in line were parents of the kids.)  The girls had a long huddle on the other side of the field.  That broke up and they went to go do some stretching.  A marketing assistant ran over to remind them of the autograph session.  Honestly, I was hotter standing in line than I had been sitting in the stands and was sweating.  I kinda wanted to do this quick.  (Quick note: I see Bella Garcia in the team picture as a trainer.  Darn, I wish I could have seen her play some more.)  

Josie Studer looks nicer with her hair down.  She plays with it up.

Less enthusiastic were the Bulldogs.  They had to walk through the line to get to their bus.  Mostly, they kept their heads down and ignored everyone.  Awkward.  The player that had thanked the fan for getting the ball back to her quickly, later identified as Josie Studer, I think their captain, was more dignified.  She smiled and nodded.  I smiled and tipped my hat to her.  It’s all about making friends.

 

Xitlaly Hernandez was all smiles and first up.  She’s good with the kids.  She has the best hair and best signature.  I saw Sydnee Johnson limping over to the table wearing a boot.  She was all smiles and said it was a bone bruise, but she’d be fine.  (Getting her back playing would be nice.)  I congratulated Gia Valenti on her goal.  (With four goals, I had trouble remembering who all had scored without my notes with me.)  I kind of wanted to say something else and ask how she was doing with Thalia Chaverria’s death, but she all bubbles and I didn’t want to be a drag.        

 

Brooke Schultz and Mya Hammack were sitting together.  I got to tell Brooke that I heard their podcast.  I got spend more time with Mya than I thought I would, but not in the way I was hoping.  I asked Mya if she made friends with the ref after the game.  She immediately began re-litigating what had happened on the field.  (She’d been pushed first, but her shove back had gotten the ref’s attention.)  I didn’t get to tell her she was my favorite and that I admire her iron legs in playing all those minutes.  Not to mention, her and Valerie definitely won picture day.  (Mya looked really cute.)

 

As I moved along, a player shouted to her teammates, “You guys have to pick up the pace!”  There was a pretty long line behind me.  I made the mistake to commenting to Loma McNeese about the cut she’d gotten on her nose during a previous game.  She said, “Yeah, it’s a scar now.”  “You earned those scars,” I told her.  Down the line, “Oh, it’s another Mya,” I said to Mya Gonzales.  “I’m the ‘other’ Mya.  That’s why they call me ‘Gonzo.’”  She seemed a little resigned to her fate.  Valerie Guha was near the end.  She was ebullient.  I said I was surprised she had any voice left.  “I’ve had a lot practice yelling,” she said.        

 

I’m sure the girls were absolutely gassed, but were probably willing to delay stretching and showering to get a little fan adulation.  (Actually there was quite a bit.  It’s looked like there were more people in line than were in the crowd for the game.)  I’m so glad they won and it was a great game, since otherwise I’d be questioning skipping out on watching stuff at home.  Nah, I wanted to meet the girls.  It would have been okay if they hadn’t won.  Maybe I’ll get to run into Mya at another game and can tell her she’s my favorite.  I went straight home.  I had leftover pizza waiting and hadn’t even had a meal yet today.