Las Vegas, New Mexico - The New Mexico Highlands soccer team heads to Nebraska this weekend for a pair of matches against Northern Sun Teams that will be played at the University of Nebraska-Kearney.
On Friday afternoon at 2:00 pm (MT) the Cowgirls square off against Minnesota Moorhead and then on Sunday morning at 10:00 am (MT) they play nationally ranked Concordia-St.Paul.
Evans Time:
Amanda Evans was named the NMHU head coach on March 14th of this year and she earned her first win at the helm of the Cowgirls on September 5th, 1-0 over Sul Ross State. Prior to coming to Las Vegas Evans was the head coach at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia. She has 46 career coaching victories in her tenure at the collegiate level.
A Year Ago: The Cowgirls were 0-14-2 overall and 0-11-1 in 2023. The earned ties on the road at Northwestern Oklahoma State and in Las Vegas against Black Hills State.
RMAC Preseason Poll: New Mexico Highlands University earned 13 points to finish just behind Black Hills State in the balloting completed by the 13 conference coaches.
For The Record: The Cowgirls have equaled the program's best start since 2013 when they started 1-0-1 after opening the season with a tie against Angelo State and a win over Central Washington.
Hot Start For Rayner: Team Captain
Kate Rayner scored both goals for NMHU this season as NMHU is off to a 1-0-1 start. She tallied a goal late in the soggy match against Sul Ross State as NMHU came away with the 1-0 win. In the second game of the season she knocked one in midway through the opening half as the Cowgirls played USW to a 1-1 draw in Hobbs.
On Rayner's play Coach Evans said, "It's exciting to see how hungry Katie is. She has such a high soccer IQ that has allowed her to adapt to the new system we are putting in here."
2024 Roster: Coach Evans has assembled a roster that features 11 returning players and 13 newcomers to the NMHU programs.
Roster breakdown:
By Class By Home State/Country
Freshman 8 New Mexico 8
Sophomore 2 California 7
Junior 8 Colorado 3
Senior 6 Arizona 1
Hawaii 1
Mississippi 1
Nevada 1
Canada 1
United Kingdom 1
Scouting the Opposition: The Cowgirls open play this weekend against Minnesota-Moorhead on Friday. The Dragons are 0-1-1 on the season after a loss at Wisconsin-Parkside and a tie at Purdue-Northwest. They are coached by first year coach Scott Forster. Friday's match is the first ever meeting between the two programs.
Concordia-St. Paul is 1-0-1 on the season after beating Texas A&M International and tying St. Edwards on their recent swing through Texas. The Golden Bears are ranked number 23 in this week's United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division II Poll. Steve Bellis is in her 13th season leading the soccer program at CSP. Sunday's match will be the first ever meeting between NMHU and CSP.
In assessing this week's opponents Coach Evans began, "The style of play in the Midwest is very physical and we'll have to be ready for that. Moorhead has a new coach and ,like us, is looking to get wins for the program. Concordia is a good program who is going to try and press us high and try to test us so we'll have to be ready for that."
Up Next: The Cowgirls are in the midst of seven matches away from Las Vegas. They play next week at Lubbock Christian and West Texas A&M.
On the stretch of games away from home, Coach Evans said,"Our players have really embraced the road warrior mentality. We will use this to our advantage once RMAC play starts."
