EDINBURG, Texas – The New Mexico State women's soccer team was dealt a 3-2 loss by UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday evening. The Aggies finish off the regular-season with an overall record of 9-9-2 and head into the Western Athletic Conference Tournament as the fifth seed with a 3-3-1 record.  
 
NM State paced itself offensively in the first half, taking five shots with two of them being on goal. In the 17th minute of action, Aileen Galicia made a cross to Jody Hernandez and put the ball into the net, giving the Aggies a 1-0 lead. UTRGV (9-7-3, 4-2-1) came back with the equalizer at 18:25 when Gina Steiner shot the ball around Aggie goalkeeper Dmitri Fong. The Aggies headed into halftime leading UTRGV, 2-1, after Devin Hart passed the ball to Galicia and took the long shot to score in the 32nd minute.
 
"It was a tough game tonight," head coach Freddy Delgado said. "We had some excellent individual performances, but as a team we didn't do the gritty things we needed to do to close out the game. We mentally turned off at key moments in the game. We let a victory slip through our hands. We need to take this feeling and let it fuel us for the WAC Tournament. We have a great team and we have a great chance in the tournament. We need to take this feeling and use it to drive us to do our best at the most important time of the season."
 
The Aggie offense struggled in the second half of the game, recording only two shots to UTRGV's nine. At 59:32, Frida Farstad-Eriksson found the back of the net off of a free kick and setting up the 2-2 tie. In the 69th minute of play, NM State fell behind, 3-2, when Steiner scored her second goal of the match following a free kick. Despite the loss, Fong tallied seven saves for the Aggie defense while Galicia and Hernandez each earned two shots-on-goal and one goal apiece.   
 
New Mexico State returns to the field on Wednesday, Nov. 1, for the start of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Phoenix, Ariz. as it takes on Seattle U at 4 p.m.