LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State women's soccer match versus the University of New Mexico originally scheduled for Wednesday evening in Aggie Memorial Stadium will now be played at the NM State Soccer Athletic Complex beginning at 5 p.m.
The Aggies played all their matches inside Aggie Memorial from 2009-11 when the stadium had a natural grass pitch. Those dimensions were less than the NCAA minimum requirements for intercollegiate soccer but was the only option at the time. With the move to artificial turf in 2014, the field dimensions were again minimized, bringing the soccer pitch dimensions further underneath the minimum NCAA requirements.
Although both teams had agreed to play Wednesday's match inside the stadium, when the exact dimensions were certified, the decision was made to move the match to the NM State Soccer Athletic Complex for student-athlete welfare.
All planned events and promotions scheduled for the match will take place as scheduled. All Las Cruces Youth Soccer teams will still be recognized, although the ceremony will now occur at halftime instead of before the match as originally planned.
The NM State cheerleaders will perform for the first time ever at an Aggie soccer match and all NM State students will receive free thunder sticks and will have a chance to participate in a postgame Bubble Soccer Bash and Human Foosball game.
NM State plays the Lobos for the sixth time in program history and will look for its first win versus its in-state rival. The Aggies are hoping a record crowd will lead them to win number one against UNM. The record attendance for a soccer match at the Soccer Athletic Complex is 714 fans on Sept. 6, 2013, in a match versus Stephen F. Austin.
Although the Aggies are winless against the Lobos, three of those losses have been by a 1-0 score, including one in overtime and one in double overtime. Last year NM State lost 1-4 in Albuquerque.
The Aggies (0-1) began the 2015 campaign on Sunday by losing a heartbreaker at home to Eastern Washington 1-2 in double overtime. Freshman
Aileen Galicia marked the first goal of the season for NM State. The match was under three minutes away from ending in a tie before the Eagles marked the game-winning goal.
UNM (0-2) began the season by hosting the Lobo Invitational where it lost to two top-25 teams, including the No. 1 team in the country Florida State. The Lobos met the defending national champions on Friday, falling 3-1. UNM then met No. 15 Texas Tech on Sunday, where an early Red Raider goal held until the final whistle as the Lobos lost 0-1.
Head coach Heather Dyche returns to her native Albuquerque for her first season at the helm of the program. She played her collegiate ball at Florida State. UNM has an experienced squad which returns 10 of 11 starters from a team that went 10-6-2 in 2014 and finished third in the Mountain West with a 7-2-2 conference record. Senior Claire Lynch led the team last season with four goals and has the only goal for the Lobos this season.
Wednesday's rivalry matchup will have live stats available for free and a live stream available online for a fee. Please visit the women's soccer schedule page at
www.NMStateSports.com for links to live stats and the pay-per-view live stream as well as tickets at Ticketmaster.
As always, kids 12 years old and under and all NM State students receive free entry into every Aggie soccer match. Single-game tickets are only $5 and available through the website, at 575-646-1420 or at the gate, which will open at 4 p.m.
