The New Mexico Highlands soccer team netted just one goal in its weekend games against Regis and Colorado School of Mines.
Losses came 0-7 against the Rangers on Friday and 1-4 to the Orediggers on Sunday as Highlands opened Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. The Cowgirls were outshot in both games, 11-20 and 9-26, respectively. For the weekend, they put 10 of their 20 shots on goal, including 6 against Mines.
On Friday, the Rangers wasted little time, scoring their first goal in the first minute of play when Kelby Kuo scored unassisted at 0:57. Kuo stuck again just over seven minutes later off an assist by Hanna Wallgren at 8:00 to make is 2-0. She made it a hattrick in the 21st minute when she put away her third of the half, this time from Katelyn Martin.
Regis struck three more times off goals from Audrey Teague (assist, Kuo), Sarah Wynn (Stella Straubing) and Isabella Woliver (Wynn) and before the halftime break, the rout was on.
The Ranger attack slowed in the second half as Kuo was the lone scorer for either team in the final period. New Mexico Highlands finished the game without a corner kick and committed 16 fouls. Maren Clark recorded 3 saves for NMHU off the bench, all coming in the second half. Valeria Baca and Nitza Rodriquez both got off three shots apiece for the Cowgirls.
The Cowgirls made their second match of the weekend more competitive against a shot-happy Colorado Mines team. The Orediggers fired 23 times, 17 in the second half. Less than half of the Mines shots were on goal. The Cowgirls managed nine shots with six on goal.
Mines (5-1-2, 2-0-2 RMAC) struck first, scoring on a shot by Eliot Edwards (Landry Corbett) in the 11th minute. But this time the Cowgirls (0-4, 0-2 RMAC) evened things up just under four minutes later when Baca converted a penalty kick at 15:12. The teams went to halftime tied, 1-1.
The Orediggers got a trio of second half goals from Emma Peterson (Gracey Henoch), Katie Koehler (Peterson) and Hannah Rowan (unassisted). NMHU starter Karina Vega recorded 7 saves. Baca (4), Rodriguez (2) and Kiarra Hovis (2) had multiple shots for Highlands.
New Mexico Highlands is back in action as they play their first game at home in almost three years. Highlands played the entire 2019 season at the Municipal Recreation Sports Complex in Santa Fe and lost the 2020 season to COVID-19.
Celebrating Homecoming week, the Cowgirls host Fort Lewis in a RMAC matchup on Friday. Highlands plays their home games at Old Memorial Middle School Stadium, located at Cinder Road and Palo Verde Drive in Las Vegas, NM. Kickoff is at 2:00p MT.
