Las Vegas, New Mexico – There is nothing like the opening game of a new season and for the Cowgirls they get to start the season off with a rivalry game. There are only three NCAA Division II schools in the Land of Enchantment but only two that have a women's soccer program at their university, and they will battle Thursday in Portales. Saturday the Cowgirls head to West Texas A&M to play against the Lady Buffalos.
Year Three: Thursday marks the start of the third season for
Amanda Evans as the head coach of the Cowgirls soccer program.
RMAC Poll: The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference released the 2026 Soccer preseason poll New Mexico Highlands University garnered 13 points in voting conducted by the conference's 13 coaches to finish behind Black Hills State in the poll.
2026 Roster: The New Mexico Highlands roster features 12 international players as well as some cowgirls from years past such as,
Peyton Greener,
Haylee Driscoll,
Mia Roybal,
Ninon Rigal,
Lina Villanueva and
Stella Albright. Coach Evans also welcomed 14 new Cowgirls to Historic Las Vegas.
New Mexico Highlands played two exhibition matches against Garden City Community College and Otero Junior College.
Roster Breakdown:
By Class:
Freshman 10
Sophomore 8
Junior 6
Senior 1
By Home State/Country:
New Mexico 7
Jamaica 3
France 3
Texas 2
Utah 2
California 2
Germany 1
Netherlands 1
Qatar 1
Colorado 1
Hungary 1
Canada 1
Arizona 1
Estonia 1
Scouting The Opposition:
Eastern New Mexico:
The Cowgirls will face in state foe Eastern New Mexico to open the season. The greyhound went 0-17 last season and 0-14 in the Lone Star Conference. Head Coach Nona Borden is in her second year as the head coach of the Greyhound program she previously served as the interim head coach before getting the full-time head coaching job in February of 2025. The last time these two programs faced off the game was canceled due to lightning in the area.
West Texas A&M:
Last season the Lady Buffalos posted a 7-9-2 record on the season and also made the trip to Historic Las Vegas to play the Cowgirls that ended in a 2-1 victory for West Texas A&M. Turk Ozturk enters his second season as the head coach of the program where he was 4-9-1 in the Lone Star Conference last season. Prior to West Texas A&M Ozturk was part of the coaching staff at Iowa State University in the NCAA Division I Big 12 Conference.
Follow The Cowgirls: All home and road RMAC games will be on the RMAC Network this week's game will be on the Lonestar network
Gameday Reminders:
NMHU is a cashless campus, all purchases must be made using Debit, Credit, or Mobile
NMHU has implemented a strict
Clear Bag Policy for all on-campus events.
No outside food or drink permitted in Sanchez Family Stadium.
No pets allowed in NMHU Athletic Events
