CHICAGO, Ill. – The New Mexico State women's soccer team came out victorious as it defeated Chicago State, 8-0, on Friday afternoon at Kroc Stadium.
 
The Aggies (9-7-2, 3-1-1) outshot the Cougars (1-17-0, 0-5-0) 13-2 in the first half of the match, with nine of those shots being on goal. Devin Hart found the back of the net in the 29th minute of action, giving NM State the early 1-0 lead. The Aggie offense continued to attack the goal and broke through at 31:31 when Hart passed the ball to Aileen Galicia and found the back of the net against Chicago State's goalkeeper Gabby Klemp. New Mexico State maintained the 2-0 lead going into halftime.
 
"It was a good, overall team win," head coach Freddy Delgado said. "We had contributions from several people today. I was proud of the fact that we continued to attack and press Chicago State. I'm also very happy that we got the shutout."
 
NM State continued to have the run-of-play in the second half, outshooting Chicago State 9-8. Galicia found the back of the net in the 58th minute of action, adding one more goal to the Aggies side of the scoreboard. Chicago State's Taylor Rankin tried to find the back of the net shortly after, but NM State goalkeeper Dmitri Fong came out with the block. The Cougars' offense continued to attack the goal, but the Aggie defense stood their ground and kept Chicago State scoreless.
 
Hart and Galicia each went on to score two more goals, tallying three goals apiece and recorded their first hat-trick of the season. Senior Danielle Smith scored her first goal of the 2017 campaign, coming off an assist from Hart in the 81st minute. At 87:19, midfielder Amy Gulczynski made a pass to defender Samantha Afonso and scored the final goal for NM State.       
 
"Each one of those players have been working extremely hard this entire season," Delgado said. "They're hungry to score goals. It was nice for them to enjoy all the hard work they put in so far this season. Aileen and Devin are both very good players. We have a very potent attack all the way around and each of those players are able to play off of each other. It makes it very difficult for a defense to mark up against them."
 
The Aggies return home to the Soccer Athletic Complex on Sunday, Oct. 22, for their final home match of the season as they host UMKC. Kickoff is at noon.