Photo courtesy of Nevada Athletics. Nevada soccer has their second tie game of the season.
Nevada women’s soccer tied 1-1 against the University of New Mexico at home on Oct. 8.
UNM is tied for the number one ranked women’s soccer team in the Mountain West. Nevada is currently ranked ninth.
In the first half of the game, UNM had control of the ball with seven shots on goal. Nevada had a foul, which led to UNM having a free kick just outside of the goalbox. Goalie Kendal Stovall was able to catch the ball and prevent a goal. Nevada freshman forward Trinity Sandridge had a breakaway down the field, but the pressure from the defense caused her chance at getting a goal to be unsuccessful. UNM freshman forward Zaria Katesigwa had the first goal, shooting from the left side of the goal box. A high shot by Nevada senior Hana Law was caught by goalie Emily Johnson. Stovall had another save after a hard shot by senior Molly Myers to the right side goal post. Sophomore midfielder Lauren Muff had a breakaway of her own, but a pass across the field was defended by UNM. At the end of the first half, the score was 1-0 UNM.
Nevada was unable to attain the ball at the beginning of the second half. UNM had a fast shot on goal by Myers. Her shot was defended by Nevada but led to a corner kick. UNM failed at their attempt to head the ball in or get the rebounding shot off of the corner kick because of Stovall’s quick saves. Nevada got some action on their side of the field 10 minutes in. Junior Gabby Brown had the first two shots of the half for Nevada. Her first missed out left and Johnson saved the next on to the bottom left. Nevada freshman Emily Rich had a hard shot which hit UNM #4 in the face. No injury occurred. A foul on red-shirt senior Alexa Kirton led to Nevada’s first goal of the night. Rich scored with 13 minutes left of the half, assisted by junior Luz Arreaga. Arreaga came back two minutes later with a shot on goal, but Johnson saved it. With the score tied 1-1, Nevada pushed for the last minutes of the game for another goal. Luz and Sandridge both contributed a shot.
The game went into overtime with a tie 1-1. This is Nevada’s second conference game that has gone into overtime. UNM had the first shot in overtime by Kirton. After back-and-forth battles on the field, no team scored and another overtime started.
Arreaga had a rush down the field and found Sandridge in the middle of the goal box for a pass. Sandridge shot out high for Nevada. UNM had control of the ball for a lot of the period. The Nevada defense did not allow for a goal. Both teams had two shots on goal.
The game ended in a tie 1-1. This game broke UNM’s eight win streak.
In the 50 degree weather, both teams had multiple subs throughout the game to keep players hot on the field. Many shots were taken by both teams: UNM 16, Nevada 10. Stovall had a total of seven saves.
The next game is against San Diego State University who is currently the second best team in the Mountain West division. The battle will happen at home on Oct. 10.
Kelsey Middleton can be reached at kelseymiddleton@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @kelsmiddleunr