THE KICKOFF
• The final road match of the NM State women's soccer team's regular season schedule sends the Aggies to Seattle, Wash., for a Sunday afternoon showdown with WAC adversary Seattle U.
• Kickoff at Championship Field has been set for 2:00 p.m. MT. ESPN+ and the ESPN app will stream every second of the action as NM State seeks its third-ever victory over Seattle U.
 
THE SERIES
• NM State and Seattle U have met on 14 occasions prior to Friday night. In the all-time series, NM State is 2-12 (.143) against the Redhawks.
• The Aggies' second win over Seattle U came in Las Cruces back on Friday, Oct. 1, when Bella Garcia's 90^th-minute goal lifted NM State to a 2-1 win over their foes from the Pacific Northwest.
• That win was NM State's first over Seattle U in Las Cruces.
• Seattle U has outscored the Aggies by a 45-8 margin in the 14 meetings between the two teams.
• NM State head coach Rob Baarts is hoping to pick up his second win over the Redhawks during his tenure as the Aggies' bench boss. He holds a 1-4 record against Seattle U.
 
LAST TIME OUT | NM State 0, at California Baptist 1 (OT) | Friday, Oct. 15
• Makenna Gottschalk matched her career-high by making 11 saves, but California Baptist snuck the game-winning goal through with 70 seconds left in the first overtime session.
• NM State was outshot 25-8 in its second overtime match of the season.
• The Aggies put just four shots on goal in their first WAC overtime affair of 2021.
 
ABOUT THE AGGIES
• Following Friday afternoon's setback at California Baptist, NM State sits in third place in the WAC's six-team West Division. NM State (nine points) trails Grand Canyon (16 points, first place) and California Baptist (second place, 12 points) in the division standings with four regular season matches to go. Three of the remaining four matches on the Aggies' regular-season schedule are against West Division teams sitting below NM State in the league standings.
• For the sixth time this season, NM State is hoping to bounce back after a shutout loss. In games directly after shutout losses in 2021, the Aggies are 4-2 (.667).
• NM State is one win away from matching the program record for WAC wins in a single season (four). The 2009, 2015 and spring 2021 editions of the Aggies are tied for the program record in that category.
• The Aggies' seven wins this season are the most in a single season in the tenure of fourth-year head coach Rob Baarts as well as the fourth-most in a single season in program history. NM State's 2011 club set the program record for wins in a season with 11 while the Aggies' 2009 and 2017 squads each won nine matches.
• Baarts has succeeded in increasing the Aggies' win total every single season during his tenure. After winning just two matches in 2018, the Aggies won four in 2019 and five in the 2021 spring season.
• Fifteen NM State players have points to their credit this season. Only Grand Canyon (20 players) has more student-athletes who have either scored goals or registered assists in 2021.
• In goal, Makenna Gottschalk has been a solid performer for NM State through her senior year. The Broomfield, Colo., product has a 7-8 mark which features a 1.77 goals against average as well as 66 of the team's 67 saves.
• Gottschalk's save total this season is the fifth-highest among all WAC netminders and her three clean sheets are the third-most when stacked up against that same group.
• In the history of NM State women's soccer, six goalkeepers have recorded 100 or more saves in their career. Gottschalk is one of those individuals as she has 125 to her credit. With 11 saves Friday afternoon, she passed Katie Graul for fifth place on the program's all-time saves chart.
• Various NM State players have been stepping up in a big way this season. NM State has not had the benefit of a fully healthy roster since early September due to multiple injuries.
• Hannah Leitner is the program's all-time leader in assists with 12 throughout her career in the Crimson and White. Additionally, Leitner ranks eighth all-time on the NM State goal scoring charts with 10 in her career.
• Three other Aggies have been making their way up the program's all-time goal scoring charts since the season began, too. O'Connor has booted in 11 during her NM State career. Those 11 goals are the seventh-most all-time.
• Like Leitner, Corey Kizer is tied for eighth all-time in career goals scored with 10. On the year Kizer has accounted for two of the Aggies' 13 scores.
• For the first time in almost a full month, Leitner was back in the Aggies' lineup Friday afternoon at California Baptist. She came off the bench and logged 62 minutes in her team's 1-0 setback to the Lancers. It was Leitner's first appearance since Sept. 16, 2021.
 
SCOUTING SEATTLE U | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Friday night, Seattle U suffered its first loss since Sunday, Oct. 3, when the Redhawks dropped a 2-1 decision to Grand Canyon at home.
• Seattle U is still in search of its first WAC victory of the season. The Redhawks haven't won a match since taking down Cal Poly by a 2-1 score on Sunday, Sept. 19. Since then, Seattle U has gone 0-4-2.
• Four Seattle U players have pumped in multiple goals this season, none more than Sydney Carr and Leahi Manthei who each have four to their credit. Carr tops the team's charts in total points (10) as well.
• In net, Jessica Berlin ranks second in the WAC in both goals against average (.914) and save percentage (.825).
 
COMING UP NEXT
• Once they return from Seattle, Wash., the Aggies won't leave Las Cruces for the remainder of the regular season. NM State's final three WAC matches of the year will be played at the NM State Soccer Athletics Complex and that stretch begins Saturday, Oct. 23, when it hosts Grand Canyon at 7:00 p.m.
 
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