More late game heroics and stout defense propelled the New Mexico State Women’s Soccer team over in-state rival New Mexico in a 1-0 win Thursday evening at the NMSU Soccer Complex. The Aggies (2-0-1) entered the battle of I-25 having never beaten UNM (1-1-1) in seven tries, but bested them with a goal in the waning moments of the game — not unlike their historic win against UTEP just six days ago that took two overtimes to complete.

 

UNM transfer and redshirt freshman Dmitri Fong has been stellar at the goalkeeper position all year for the Aggies, only building on that reputation against her former school. Fong has only allowed one goal in 54 shots and has 22 saves for the season after picking up seven more in Thursday’s contest. Fong leads an NMSU defense that hasn’t given up a goal in 274 minutes over a three game span.

 

NMSU struggled to generate offensive looks for a great majority of the game, only taking one shot in the first period and six total for the game. New Mexico looked in control for most of regulation, drastically outshooting the Aggies with 18 shots of their own and forcing seven corner kicks.

 

“It is a huge step for our program – our group is a good group and we have confidence in ourselves but you need results and you never saw any type of panic,” NMSU Head Coach Freddy Delgado said. “They (UNM) started pressing us hard in the second half but we just absorbed it. We just had a quiet confidence that we were going to get our chance.”

 

With the stats almost completely in the Lobos’ favor, the only thing keeping NMSU afloat was their bend-don’t-break defense and Fong’s goalkeeping. That would prove to be all the Aggies needed.

 

“I definitely wanted to come back and beat them,” Fong said of her former team. “They put a lot of pressure on us but I just felt like we had a really strong defense today. This game meant a lot of me and a lot to us so it felt great to get the win.”

 

NMSU’s final push would come in the 89’ of regulation. There weren’t many scoring opportunities for the Aggies, but with the game on the line, junior Forward Audriana Chavez drove in the game-winning goal off of an assist from senior Devin Hart. Chavez is familiar with delivering in clutch moments, having scored the golden goal in overtime to seal NMSU’s first ever win against UTEP on Aug. 18.

 

“You don’t need to talk to your players about motivation when it comes to these games,” Delgado said. “Some of our players had a little extra motivation and Dmitri (Fong) had something to prove and a couple of other girls on our team have ties to some of the other players, so there was something to prove.”

 

Coach Freddy Delgado’s squad is off to the program’s best start since 2010, picking up two victories against bitter rivals for the first time in NMSU Women’s Soccer history in the opening week of the season.

 

The Aggies look to continue their undefeated season as they head out on a four- game road-trip with their next match coming up against Grambling State in Grambling, La. this Saturday.