In the 90th minute and tied at 1-1, the Rebels and the Lobos appeared to be destined for overtime at Peter Johann Memorial Field.
That all changed with just three seconds to go, when UNLV senior midfielder Jordan Magnin fired a looping ball into the top corner of the net, giving junior Lobo goalkeeper Taylor Hammack no chance.
The Lobos (6-6-2, 2-4-0 MW) began the game with high intensity and were immediately rewarded for it. In the 5th minute, senior defender Brooke Webster sent in a looping cross to find senior defender Olivia Ferrier, who controlled the ball to then fire it in off the underside of the crossbar.
That marked Ferrier’s first career goal as a Lobo.
After Ferrier’s goal, UNM continued to dominate the first half, registering eight shots to the Rebels’ four. The Lobos seemed on the right track to pulling out the win, as UNM has typically played stronger in the second half of matches, outshooting their opponents by an average of 15-8 shots per game.
However, the Rebels (11-3-1, 4-1-1 MW) started out the second half with a strong sense of urgency, and were able to put together more chances. In the 68th minute of play, Ferrier handled the ball in the middle third of the field, and was whistled for a foul by the referee.
UNLV freshman midfielder Georgia Kingman took the free kick, sending a long ball into the box to find the head of junior defender Chidera Akubuilo, who beat Hammack to the ball, tying the game 1-1.
Both sides continued to have chances after UNLV’s equalizer, with freshman Lobo forward Gwen Maly and UNLV senior forward Suzie Bernal hitting the crossbar in the latter stages of the game.
Jordan Magnin’s late strike meant a sixth defeat of the season for the Lobos, who had won 2-0 two days earlier in Reno against Nevada (4-9-0, 1-5-0 MW).
Conversely, the Rebels now have 11 wins this season, and are second in the Mountain West conference behind Utah State University (9-5-0, 5-1-0 MW).
“A great win Friday night and one of our best games of the season today,” said UNM head coach Heather Dyche in a release after the game. "We had a tough loss in Fresno last week, and I'm really pleased with how we responded this weekend.”
Dyche referred to Sunday’s loss against Fresno state the previous weekend as one of the most disappointing matches of the season for her squad. The performance against UNLV was a stark contrast to that game — the Lobos put in a strong performance, despite walking away with the loss.
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New Mexico will play its next pair of fixtures at home, doing battle against Utah State on Friday at 7:30 p.m MT and on Sunday against Boise State at 12:00 p.m MT.
Matthieu Cartron is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women’s soccer. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLoboSports
