The UNM women's soccer team hits the road this weekend to face the University of Texas at El Paso and Texas Tech University at the Miner Classic tournament in El Paso, Texas.
The matches are the first of 10 away games that keep the team on the road until Oct. 17. Head coach Kit Vela said that the team finished the weekend on a good note.
"We're looking at this (upcoming) weekend saying, 'Hey, we've just got to take one game at a time,'" she said. "They're long weekends, but we just have to stay focused academically and athletically and just do our job for the next five weeks."
UNM's first home stand was an overall success. The Lobos played tough in a 2-1 loss to 23rd-ranked Arizona State University on Sept. 1. During the Adidas Classic, the Lobos cruised to a 4-0 victory over the University of Houston on Friday. Sunday, UNM scored four goals in the first 70 minutes against Northern Arizona University before allowing two late goals for a 4-2 victory.
Vela said the team took several positives from the weekend.
"Now we know we can score goals," she said. "We need to stay organized, keep the communication going. We've got to eliminate the mistakes because against a really good team they could've come back."
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Thursday, UNM plays UTEP, which swept through last weekend's Lobo Adidas Classic.
Friday, the Miners trailed NAU early but scored four unanswered goals in the second half to defeat the Lumberjills 7-3. The following Sunday UTEP (3-0-0) routed Houston 6-0.
The Miners are led in scoring by senior forward Holly Cohen and senior defender Miranda Cuthbertson. Cohen, a transfer from Arizona State, has scored five of UTEP's fifteen goals this season with two assists. Cuthbertson has four goals on eight shots on goal this season.
"Like us, (UTEP) is nothing special but they score goals," Vela said. "So that just shows we can't make mistakes or they're going to punish us."
Texas Tech (2-2-0), which opened the season with wins over Colgate University and the University of Syracuse, lost 2-1 to West Texas A&M University Tuesday and 2-1 to Southwest Texas University Friday.
"We've got to go out there and do what we're good at," Vela said. "They're better than they were last year, but so are we."
The Lobos next home game is their Mountain West Conference opener against Brigham Young University on Oct. 17. Last season, UNM upset the eventual MWC champion Cougars 1-0 in Provo, Utah.
