USU women’s soccer has been doing the impossible this season, staying undefeated and tying twice. They have had a reputation for starting aggressively and never letting up on their opponents. However, their match against New Mexico on Sunday afternoon at Chuck & Gloria Bell Field didn’t start with their usual explosive offense. Their last match against previous champions, San Diego State, on Thursday, resulted in a 5-1 win. The number No. 12 Aggies ended up taking the win 1-0 this time. The Aggies did keep up the pressure, and a win is a win. They stayed undefeated in the Mountain West Conference.
USU’s Hard Win Over New Mexico
Despite the Aggies’ offensive dominance, they couldn’t seem to get a shot past the New Mexico defense. USU attempted 25 shots without any success, and their only score came from a penalty kick just shy of the 60-minute mark.
The penalty kick began with senior Forward Bizzy Arevalo crossing the ball in front of the Lobo goal. The pass hit off hit the hand of a New Mexico defender, resulting in the penalty. It was Aggie Rine Yonaha who stepped forward to take the shot. Earlier in the match, Yonaha left with an injury, now stepped forward and delivered a right-foot shot into the lower left corner of the net, giving the Aggies the only goal of the match.
USU Head Coach Manny Martins Comments
“This was another opponent that made things very difficult, but I think we’re growing in being able to deal with opponents that come in with the strategy of keeping us from creating chances. We still were able to create chances, but in the end today it took being really clinical and the one PK, but we had quite a few other chances. But I’m happy we got another result,” Martins said.
For USU’s whopping 25 shot attempts, New Mexico was only able to attempt three shots of its own on the Aggies. Several of these amazing shots were only inches off the mark. The first one happened within minutes of the start of the game, by Alex Day, whose shot hit off the post. Much later in the game, Solena Sellers’ shot went high and hit the top bar over the goal.
New Mexico’s loss doesn’t come without some success. The Lobo’s goalkeeper, Callie Droitsch, stopped every shot as well as anything else the Aggies sent at her. Aggie Bizzy Arevalo sent a strong shot from within the 10-yard box that Drositch stopped. The next one came from Kate Christian, who fired a shot inside the 20-yard box. She was up to the task for that shot as well.
Close Calls
It was Arevalo’s first action since suffering a hamstring injury with less than two minutes remaining in USU’s scoreless draw against Washington State on Sept. 19. The former Logan High standout was dangerous in her first action in four matches as she accounted for four shots in 22 minutes.
The Aggies (12-0-2, 3-0-1 MW) earned many more set-piece opportunities in the second half, seemingly making a difference. Six of USU’s seven corner kicks took place after halftime, plus the hosts had ten free kicks after only one during the first 45 minutes of action.
In addition to Day’s offering, as mentioned earlier, USU’s two other best chances to dent the scoreboard in the first half were a dipping right-footed shot by Kylie Olsen that nearly hit the right post and an Arevalo back-post volley that found the side netting, but on the outside of the goal. Sellers whipped in a good cross on that Arevalo chance.
More Attempts and What’s Next
The Aggies finished with double-digit shots in each half, while all three Lobos’ shots were attempted in the final 28 minutes. New Mexico’s best chance to equal was a nice counterattack in the 84th minute that resulted in an open Morgan Juran shot inside the 18-yard box, but USU keeper Cora Brendle smothered it.
Brendle went the distance in goal en route to her fifth shutout of the season and her team’s ninth in 14 matches. The Aggies, one of just four unbeaten teams left at the Division I level, have outscored the opposition 42-8 during the 2024 campaign. Next, USU will be traveling to face Wyoming on Thursday and Colorado State on Sunday.
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