RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The New Mexico State women's soccer team dropped a 3-0 decision to Western Athletic Conference foe California Baptist on Friday afternoon in Riverside.
 
"It was a good first half, we played well until the breakdown to finish the half which has been one of our problems, finishing out halves," said head coach Rob Baarts. "Second half, had a little bit of a fight in us but we just keep giving up that mistake goal where we don't mark and we have to figure that. Until we figure that out we're going to have a hard time."
 
The Lancers (9-2-1, 2-1 WAC) had a few chances to take an early lead, most notably on a shot from Miranda Hald that hit the post and bounced out in the 6^th minute. Then, the Aggies (1-11, 0-2 WAC) had two opportunities for the opening goal but shots by Jess McDow in the 10^th minute and Kelly Burton in the 11^th minute were both saved by Carissa Christensen.
 
In the 15^th minute, Ashley Martin made a save on a shot from Michaela Miller followed by another on a header from Desarae Felix in the 17^th minute to keep the score at 0-0.
 
New Mexico State had its best chance of the first half when freshman Sarah Trent connected on a header off a corner kick from Rachel Wolter that appeared to have Christensen beaten for a goal. However, a Lancer defender was able to recover and head the ball off the line and out of danger.
 
Then, California Baptist would get on the board on a strike from Juliette Brown that snuck in at the back post to give the Lancers a 1-0 lead in the 43^rd minute, a lead they took into the halftime break.
 
Martin was tested right away after halftime, but made saves on shots from Miranda Hald and Valerie Cortez in the 46^th minute.
 
From there, both defenses settled in while NM State got shots from Alexa Barrera and Micaela Milavec in the 57^th minute that were blocked and went wide respectively.
 
However, the Lancers would strike again, getting a goal from Rebecca Romero to push their lead to 2-0 in the 63^rd minute.
 
The Aggies then got a save from Martin in the 83^rd minute before CBU's Lanai Navarro found the back of the net in the 85^th minute for the final tally of 3-0.
 
New Mexico State was outshot 23-6 on the afternoon while taking one more corner kick than the Lancers, 5-4. Martin finished the match with 10 saves while Christensen recorded two.

"At this point it's a matter of just everyone doing their jobs," Baarts added. "If we can get that to happen, we'll be in a better place."
 
NM State is back in action on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 12 p.m. (MT) as they visit preseason WAC favorite Kansas City. Sunday's match is set to be livestreamed via the WAC Digital Network.