Sept. 17 at Colorado State University-Pueblo
Sept. 21 vs Fort Lewis
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATSPUEBLO, Colo. and LAS VEGAS, N.M. – It will be an odd start to Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play for the New Mexico Highlands soccer team as it travels three hours north on I-25 to battle Colorado State University-Pueblo (2-1) on Wednesday (Sept. 17). They Cowgirls will then travel home to battle Fort Lewis on Sunday (Sept. 21) at noon.
The Cowgirls are coming off an impressive week where they not only swept their Lonestar Conference foes, they held both West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico scoreless. Against the Lady Buffs, it took more than 70 minutes of action, but junior
Rainey Pelzel found sophomore
Anyssa Dagnino at the top of the box on the right side for the game-winning goal. Junior
Crystal Schuder provided the insurance 10 minutes later.
To read more about the game, click
here. Highlands capped the great week with a 4-0 win over inter-state rival Eastern New Mexico. Scoreless for the first 66 minutes, senior
Alyssa Saucedo scored on a header to put the Cowgirls up. Dagnino added an insurance goal, followed by goals by Schuder and the first collegiate goal by freshman
Hannah Dahlquist. To read more about the game, click
here. For scoring two goals on only three shots for the week, including the game-winner against West Texas A&M, Dagnino was named the second Subway Student-Athlete of the Week. She has three goals through four games on the season, nearly half her total from all of 2013.
To read more, click
here. Moving on Up While Highlands is not nationally-ranked (Colorado School of Mines continues to be the only RMAC ranked team at #7 in the nation), the Cowgirls did crack into the South Central Regional Rankings.
The Cowgirls moved into the rankings at the eighth spot, two ahead of conference foe Regis. Colorado School of Mines is first, Metro State is fourth and Western State is sixth.
Angelo State, who is the only blemish for Highlands, is second in the South Central Region and 14th in the country.
A Look at the National and Conference Rankings It is still early, as most teams have played only a handful of games, but it should be noted how Highlands stacks up in the conference and in the country.
As a team, Highlands ranks sixth in the country and easily leads the RMAC in assists (3.25 per game), 13th in the nation and second in the RMAC in shutout percentage (75 percent) and 30th in the nation and leads the RMAC in scoring (2.5 goals per game).
Individually, freshman
Mallory Bostic is making a name for herself. She leads the RMAC and is fifth in the nation with an assist per game and leads the conference and is sixth in the nation in total assists (four). Sophomore
Anyssa Dagnino is also in the top-50 in the nation in goals scored with three. She also leads the conference in that category.
The Numbers Game If the win against Eastern New Mexico was not impressive enough, there is another way to look at it.
The Zias are 2-3 on the year with wins over Southern Nazarene and fellow RMAC member Adams State. However, two of their losses were one goal defeats at the hands of a pair of RMAC regionally-ranked teams: Western State (3-2) and Regis (2-1). So, Highlands shutout a team impressively who barely lost to two regionally-ranked teams in the RMAC. In fact, Eastern New Mexico had as many goals against the Mountaineers as it had shots on goal against the Cowgirls (two).
Also, West Texas A&M lost to nationally-ranked Colorado School of Mines and receiving votes Metropolitan State University of Denver on their home fields, 2-0. The Cowgirls also won at home, 2-0, against the Lady Buffs.
Scouting CSU-Pueblo It will be Highlands opening game in conference play when they take on the ThunderWolves Wednesday (Sept. 17).
Highlands is 3-2 in conference openers under head coach
Justin Wagar, including a 1-0 victory over CSU-Pueblo last season in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
The ThunderWolves are 2-1 on the season. They are on a two-game winning streak after losing their season opener to St. Edward's, 2-0. After winning at St. Mary's in a thriller, 4-3, CSU-Pueblo took out Fort Hays State, 2-1, in its home opener.
Shea McNutt leads the team with a goal and two assists for four points while Jasmin Cigarro has a goal and assist for three points. Jenn Rucker has played every minute between the posts and has nine saves on 13 shots faced (69.2 percent save percentage) and is 2-1.
CSU-Pueblo was picked to finish eighth in the RMAC.
Scouting Fort Lewis The Skyhawks have a new look this season under first year head coach Jimmy Hall. Hall, who was a member of the men's soccer team from 2000-03, served as the Skyhawks women's soccer assistant coach the past three years. On the field, the Skyhawks lost eight returning starters from last season and have 12 freshman (plus five redshirt freshman). Live video is available by clicking
here while live stats are available by clicking
here. Fort Lewis is coming off a 16-6-0 season that saw them make their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance. The lone "senior" on the team is Shea Haycock. Haycock, who has one year of eligibility remaining, will graduate from Fort Lewis this December.
Fort Lewis, which was picked fourth overall in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference preseason poll by the league's head coaches, was ranked 24th in the NSCAA preseason poll. After a 1-0-1 opening weekend, the Skyhawks dropped out of the top 25 but did receive votes in the poll.
Other than a 2-1 victory to begin the season against Texas Woman's, Fort Lewis has failed to find the back of the net in a scoreless tie against Midwestern State, a 4-0 loss to Angelo State and a 1-0 loss to Dallas Baptist.
Courtney Riley and Carolyn Archer scored both goals for the Skyhawks this season.
Next Up Highlands will take its lone trip to Denver, Colorado, when it battles Colorado Christian next Friday (Sept. 26) at 11 a.m., before finishing up the weekend against MSU Denver on Sunday (Sept. 28) at noon.
