The UNM women's soccer team swept through the Adidas Classic, defeating the University of Houston on Friday night and Northern Arizona University Sunday afternoon.
The Lobos (2-2-0) got a weekend's worth of work from forward Marte Dolva, who came off the bench to get two goals and one assist against the Cougars (1-2-0). The junior from Geilo, Norway, added another goal against the Lumberjills (1-3-0).
"That's what she's capable of," head coach Kit Vela said. "We haven't seen that from her yet."
Junior midfielder Erchen Theys also had a good weekend, scoring one goal on two shots on target and eight shots total.
UNM, 4, Houston, 0
The Lobos recorded their first shutout of the season against the physical Cougars. UNM's defense kept Houston from getting a single shot on goal in the first half, while getting 14 shots off on the other end of the pitch.
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Lobo goalkeeper Kirsten Winters only made two saves as the Cougars only managed to get off seven shots the whole night.
After letting the Cougars control the game for the first 15 minutes, UNM finally asserted itself after Dolva scored in the 27th minute. After a missed scoring opportunity, Dolva intercepted a soft goal kick by Ferguson and pumped a shot in to for the goal.
Dolva scored again in the 35th minute, on a penalty kick after a free-for-all in the goal area.
UNM's Theys, who shone brightly throughout the whole game with her aggressive play, scored the third goal in the 48th minute on a blast from 25 yards out after deftly faking out a defender. UNM finished the scoring in the 78th minute when Coco D'Angelo, took a Dolva steal and scored from the left side.
The game was marked by rough play as UNM picked up 13 penalties. The Cougars' were whistled for 16 fouls total.
UNM, 4, Northern Arizona, 2
The Lobos controlled the action for much of the game, scoring their first two goals within two minutes of each other and adding two more midway through the second half before allowing two late goals.
As in the Houston game, UNM didn't allow a single shot on goal in the first half, forcing the Lumberjills to loft easily-cleared balls into the penalty area. UNM's aggressive play forced six corner kicks and numerous throw-ins.
NAU goalkeeper Andrea Berra made five saves for the game, three in the first half.
The Lobos got scoring from four different players. Freshman Nicole Pitcock scored in the 28th minute on a long pass from fellow freshman Eryn Paetz.
The Lobos scored again in the 30th minute when Marte Dolva dribbled down the right side and pushing the ball past a faked-out Berra to make the score 2-0.
UNM came out aggressively in the second half, pressuring the Lumberjills relentlessly. Senior forward Michelle Nowfel scored in the 60th minute off a desperate, clearance by the NAU defense.
The Lobos got their final goal off a corner kick in the 84th minute when sophomore forward Laura Hafner poked a cross from senior midfielder Michelle Longmire into the goal.
NAU got a penalty kick goal in the 79th minute and a goal off a cross in the 84th minute, but would draw no closer.
"They were real dangerous on the counter (attacks)," Vela said. "Other than the counters we did what we wanted to do. We stopped playing (hard). We had some young players in, but you have to do that."
The Lobos travel to El Paso, Texas, later this week to play Texas Tech University and University of Texas at El Paso in the Miner Classic. The Miners (4-0-0), who also played in the Lobo Adidas Classic, defeated NAU 7-3 on Friday and Houston 6-0 Sunday.
