The Halloween season finale for the NMSU women’s soccer team came after forward Loma McNeese’s coronation as she became the all time leading scorer in her magic moment in Ruston with her 27th career goal. But what made the holiday game extra spooky against UTEP is that she’s not done.
McNeese was tied for the all time assists leader after her 87th minute assist to forward Milana Eyrich in Louisiana got her to 17. So surely one of the lowest ranked teams in the conference would be nothing more than a tune-up game, since there’s little reason to take the Miners seriously. Right? Well, that’s the thing about live sports—sometimes crazy things happen.
In the the first half, the Aggies had an aggressive attack, launching five shots at the goal. The Aggies managed to frequently keep the ball in the Miner’s half of the field and kept the threat of scoring high. But goalkeeper Tionna Taylor was not about to end the season on a bad note. She saved three of the Aggies shots, even though one arguably crossed the goal line.
UTEP’s defense was as aggressive as their goalkeeping, keeping all five of the Aggies first half corner kicks out of the net. Just when they needed it, a Miner attack, set up by a penalty kick from forward Mina Rodriguez, was struck true. Just like that, the Aggies were officially playing from behind to an inferior team on paper.
But the NMSU team are defending regular season champions for a reason and fans saw the seeds of a comeback get planted in the final minutes of the first half. The ball got passed to the right side of the field by midfielder Carolina Rodriguez to the feet of defender Mya Gonzales.
With one kick, the ball drifted across the goal, passed the outstretched hands of Taylor and into the net for the equalizer just when the team needed it. As a result, the tension only rose as halftime approached.
In the second half, both teams went all out. The only thing scarier than the Halloween costumes in the crowd, was the feeling of an upset the longer the 1-1 tie lasted.
The stalemate late into the final half was not lack of trying for the Aggies as they launched five more shots. But Taylor matched them with two more saves as the disappointing result of a tie seemed more and more likely. However, some drama made its way into the match in the final 10 minutes.
The blood was first drawn by UTEP when Rodriguez struck again, causing the Miner sideline to erupt and the team set up their park the bus strategy, dropping all the players into the lower third to hold on for the unlikely win.
The Aggies needed a hero to step up and when the phone rang, midfielder Meredith Scott answered, scoring her fifth goal of the season in the 87th minute to tie the game once again.
The Aggies had one more chance for their game winning goal in the final seconds, but the clock ran out and they had to settle for a tie and final score of 2-2.
There was a silver lining though, the Aggies had already locked in a playoff spot, so it’s on to Miami. The revenge tour after lat years championship loss had officially begun.
Aggie seniors looked to end their career with three consecutive titles in three years. The first roadblock was Jacksonville State in the quarterfinals. An easy task, sweeping them aside with a 4-1 thrashing while Loma McNeese broke another record with her 17th career assist to further rewrite the NMSU record books.
Up next was a rematch with their boogie man, the defending champions, the Liberty Flames once again. But, just like last year, the team had the kryptonite to stop the Aggies short of their goal once again. And to make matters more interesting, it was by the same 1-0 score as last years championship.
The year may be over and new faces will grace the team’s new field next season, but Rob Baart’s and the Aggies will be back. To win, you have to be the man that beats the man and that’s not easy as the last two meetings with the Flames have shown. But if it wasn’t hard, finally beating them wouldn’t feel so good which is why even though the first two times facing them haven’t worked out there is hope.
Hope in the infinite optimism of two little words, ‘next year’ and all the feelings that come with them.
So here’s to next year, because who knows, the third times the charm is a popular saying for a reason and the future of NMSU soccer is in good hands.
