OCTOBER 3 vs. COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES: LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
OCTOBER 5 at WESTERN STATE: LIVE STAT | LIVE VIDEO
LAS VEGAS, N.M. and GUNNISON, Colo. – It may be the most important weekends of the season for the Cowgirls as the New Mexico Highlands soccer team (4-3-1, 2-2-1 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) take on a pair of ranked opponents in a split weekend.
The Cowgirls encourage fans to show their "Purple Pride" on Friday (Oct. 3) when Highlands battles fourth-ranked Colorado School of Mines (7-0-1, 4-0 RMAC).
Tickets are normally $5, but is fans show their "purple pride" and wear purple gear, admission is free. Fans are also asked to wear a purple ribbon to help raise awareness during "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in October for this game and also the football game on Saturday (Oct. 4) against the nationally-ranked Orediggers at 1 p.m.
Sunday (Oct. 5), the Cowgirls get a "breather" against #25 Western State (5-0-3, 2-0-2 RMAC).
Maack Receives Recognition Freshman defender
Malia Maack, from Spokane, Washington, received recognition Wednesday from the Inland Northwest Soccer Blog. She was named one of the "Best of the Inland Northwest XI" for last week after her two assist performance last Friday (Sept. 26) at Colorado Christian. She tallied a pair of assists, becoming the fifth Cowgirls on the season to have at least two assists.
Against the Cougars, Maack helped the Cowgirls score their first, first half goal of the season when she took a free kick near midfield and found sophomore
Anyssa Dagnino in the 20th minute. In the second half, she cleaned up a misssed shot and crossed the ball into the box.Dagnino headed the ball in for the insurance goal.
To read more about the game against the Cougars, click
here. To read more about Maack's honor, click
here.
Can You Give Me a Hand? Highlands enters the weekend 36th nationally is assists per game at 1.88. The Cowgirls have 15 assists on the year, which is not that suprising. However, those 15 assists have come on 12 goals. Four times the Cowgirls have had a pair of an assists on a goal this season. Eight different players have an assist this season, including freshman
Mallory Bostic leading the team with four.
Only one goal on the season has been score unassisted. In the third game of the season West Texas A&M, junior
Crystal Schuder had an angle on the right side of the field at the top of the box on a free kick. Instead of finding a teammate, in what very easily could have been assist, Schuder bent the ball in the net to provide a pivotal insurance goal.
Scouting Colorado School of Mines New Mexico Highlands must take advantage of every opportunity to score. Scoring 15 goals on the year is not esspecially much for a team that has seven wins, but when your defense has only allowed three goals through eight games, a team wins a lot of games.
However, Colorado Mines only won 1-0 at Colorado Christian – and needed a goal in the 82nd minute for the win. Goalie Jaylin Yates has been of the best between the posts this season, ranking 25th in the nation by grabbing 88 percent of the shots she faced. She is also 12th in the nation by only allowing .364 goals per game.
Highlands will also have to be aware that shots by the Orediggers can come from anywhere. Mines has scored 15 goals on the season, but they have come from 11 different players. Anna Deleray easily leads the team in goals (three), shots on goal (14 – no other Oredigger has more than six) and game-winning goals (three).
Scouting Western State The Cowgirls put more shots on goal in 6-of-8 games this year (ironically, winning both games their opponents that out shot them) and keeping with that theme will be crucial this weekend. While the Orediggers only have 15 goals on the year, Western State has only beat the goalie on 11 occasions in 2014.
Like Mines, Western goalie Meghan Jedrzejewski has only allowed three goals on the season. She is third in the nation by grabbing more than 93 percent of shots faced.
However, unlike the Orediggers, the Mountaineers scoring is mainly funneled through one player. Six different Western State players have scored, but five of those goals have been scored by Francesca Rand. In fact, Rand and Highlands sophomore
Anyssa Dagnino co-lead the conference with five goals each.
Next Up The Cowgirls take their penultimate road trip of the season next week when they travel to Alamosa and Durango, Colorado, to take on Adams State and Fort Lewis. Highlands takes on the Grizzlies Friday (Oct. 10) at 4 p.m. The Cowgirls will look to avenge a 1-0 loss earlier this year against the Skyhawks on Sunday (Oct. 12) at noon.
