The Eastern New Mexico women’s soccer team will be seeking its second straight win in the first round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament as the Hounds will take on Texas A&M-Commerce at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Eastern enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed and will be playing the fourth-seeded Lions at the Lion Soccer Field in Commerce.
LAST TIME OUT
Last week, the Hounds defeated UT-Permian Basin 3-0 on Friday before falling to Angelo State 1-0 on Saturday.
Against the Falcons, junior forward Charlotte Collins-Blaize scored multiple goals in the match, as she headed in a goal off a cross by Anahi Hernandez in the 43rd minute and added her second in the 60th minute on a breakaway down the left side off a deep pass from sophomore mid Keyara Zuniga. Capping off the scoring for the Hounds was Zuniga at the 79:49 mark, when she recovered the loose ball on her first shot off a breakaway and put it past the keeper off the rebound.
In the matchup against the Belles, Eastern unfortunately gave up an early goal at the 2:39 mark when the LSC’s top goal-scorer Trenadey Scott was able to get past the Hounds defense and scored the go-ahead goal from the left side. After that play, Eastern was able to play outstanding defense, only limiting ASU to just one shot that wasn’t on-goal the remainder of the match. It was the fewest shots the second-best offense in the LSC was limited to all season. The Hounds out-shot the Belles by a 12-2 margin and a 5-1 differential in shot on-goal, but we’re unable to find the back of the net on any of their shots.
REPEATING HISTORY
The Greyhounds will be looking to repeat what they were able to do in last year’s first round game of the LSC tourney. On Nov. 1, 2017, the fifth-seeded Hounds went into No. 4 seed Midwestern State and came away with their most convincing win of the season, a 4-0 romp over the Mustangs.
Eastern got a goal in the second minute of the match, taking a 1-nil lead into the halftime break. In the second half, the Hounds added three more goals, capped off on Caitlyn Schmidt’s first goal of the season.
It was the Greyhounds first ever win in the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
The Lions just barely beat out the Hounds for the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, garnering a 6-6 record in LSC play and a 9-7 record overall.
Last week, TAMUC split a pair of matches, dropping 1-0 decision to Texas Woman’s before getting the 1-0 victory that ultimately decided who would be the last team to host the LSC first round match.
Offensively, the Lions are led by junior mid Michelle Kotlik and senior forward Sabrina Munglia, who are tied for fifth in LSC with six goals apiece.
On the defensive end, goalkeeper Caitlyn Duty has started in all 16 games and played in all 1466 minutes for the Lions. She’s giving up 1.47 goals per match and has a .780 save percentage on the season to go five shutouts.
HISTORY WITH THE LIONS
This season, the Hounds and Lions split in the two matches with each other. In their first matchup of the season in Portales on Sept. 21, Eastern picked up the 2-0 victory. Eastern’s first goal of the matchup came on an own goal by the Lions and Kaitlyn Caro added one more in the 81st minute to seal the win.
The Hounds weren’t so lucky in the rematch on Oct. 21 in Commerce, as the Lions scored the only goal of the match in the 77th minute, handing Eastern a tough 1-0 loss.
After going 0-20-1 against the Lions prior to this season, ENMU will be seeking its second victory against Commerce in a 41 day stretch.
“BLAIZE”ING A TRAIL
With her two-goal performance against UTPB, Collins-Blaize became the first Greyhounds player to score multiple goals in a game this season. It was the 23rd time in school history that an ENMU women’s soccer player scored multiple goals and she is only the 14th different player in the 16-year history of the program to accomplish the feat. She is one of two current players on the roster to score multiple goals, joining Caro who netted a pair of goals in a 2-2 tie on Sept. 1, 2017 against Fort Lewis.
Collins-Blaize is currently tied for the team-lead with three goals this season and is the team-leader in shot percentage, scoring on 27-percent of her shots and is placing a blistering 63-percent of her shots on-goal.
SIBLING RIVALRY
During the regular season, twin sisters Hayden Zuniga and Keyara Zuniga have played major impacts for the Hounds on each side of the field. Keyara is currently tied for the team-lead with three goals scored this season is also tied as the team’s top-point scorer with seven points this season.
On the other side of the field, Hayden has led a defensive backline that is allowing just 1.24 goals per contest, the second-lowest opponent scoring average in program history. The only time the Hounds allowed fewer goals was during the 2013 season, as the Hounds gave up just 1.06 goals per contest. Hayden is also leading a defense that currently holds the program record for fewest shots allowed per game, conceding just 10.2 shots to their opponents. The previous record was set by last year’s squad, which allowed just 12.2 shots per game.
