LOBO WOMEN’S SOCCER FALLS
Lynch’s late goal not enough for UNM
The UNM women’s soccer team is beaten at home in its match with San Jose State.
Two second-half goals 26 seconds apart proved to be too much for the New Mexico women’s soccer team to overcome Sunday against San Jose State.
“We talk about big five moments a lot,” Lobos midfielder Claire Lynch said. “One of them is after a goal is scored. That’s usually when another goal is scored or something big happens and we weren’t on and they took advantage of that and they put another one way and we dug ourselves a really big hole.”
Lynch scored a header off a feed from Jennifer Muñoz with nine minutes remaining to give New Mexico some life, but it was unable to complete the comeback, losing 2-1.
“All year long we’ve talk about how we respond after a goal happens and to give a second one is just, is just brutal to fight back from,” UNM coach Heather Dyche said. “Again, we come back and we keep fighting and that’s kind of the cool thing about our team. You never feel like you’re out of it and that’s a good thing to feel.”
The Lobos (9-5-0, 4-2-0 Mountain West) were swarming the goal following Lynch’s score, but could not find the equalizer.
“I think we were definitely knocking at the door at the end of the (second) half but there just wasn’t enough time for us to get back in there,” she said.
The Spartans (7-5-1, 4-1-1) came out strong early, forcing New Mexico to change its alignment some.
“I think definitely at the beginning of the game, we didn’t start out the way we wanted to,” Lynch said. “They had a lot of shots, a lot of opportunities. I think we were pretty lucky to get out of the first half without going into a deficit.”
The loss drops New Mexico out of first place in conference play, but at the halfway point of the Mountain West season, it’s far too early to be worrying about that, Dyche said.
“I don’t care what place we’re in,” she said. “Who cares? There’s still six games left to play. If anybody’s worried about that, they’re foolish. It’s like pre-season rankings. Until it’s all said and done, you have no idea. The teams we have left to play are all very, very good. There’s not one bad team in our conference. I think our team understands that. I don’t think we take anything for granted.”