Match Seventeen
NM State (9-7, 3-4 WAC) vs. Grand Canyon (12-2-2, 5-0-2 WAC)
Saturday, Oct. 23 | 7:00 p.m. | NM State Soccer Athletics Complex | Las Cruces, N.M.
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets
THE KICKOFF
• Back at home for the remainder of the regular season, the NM State women's soccer team looks to put an end to a three-match losing skid Saturday night when the Aggies play host to WAC West Division leader Grand Canyon.
• The action at the NM State Soccer Athletics Complex is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. with the match scheduled to be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network. Tickets have been set at $7 per person with free admission for children ages 12 and under.
• The first 200 fans in attendance Saturday night will get their hands on an exclusive NM State Aggie soccer scarf.
THE SERIES
• Since the Aggies and Lopes began meeting on the pitch in 2013, NM State owns a 3-8 (.273) mark against their foes from Phoenix.
• Seven of the 11 meetings have been decided by a single goal while two have gone into overtime sessions.
• Owners of a 2-3 mark against the Lopes in Las Cruces, NM State captured its last home win back on Oct. 8, 2017, by a 2-1 score in double overtime.
• Grand Canyon has outscored NM State 25-9 in the 10 all-time meetings between the two programs. In the five matches played at the Aggies' home venue, NM State has been outscored 8-6.
• Now in his fourth season as the Aggies' head coach, Rob Baarts is the owner of a 1-4 (.200) record against Grand Canyon.
LAST TIME OUT NM State 0, at Seattle U 2 | Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021
• Seattle U netted a pair of goals in the first 28 minutes of the match, sending the Aggies to their third-consecutive setback.
• NM State totaled just three shots on goal in the setback, getting on-target tries from Xitlaly Hernandez, Hannah Leitner and Grace Olson. Hernandez finished with three shots in the setback while Bianca Chacon posted a team-high four.
• Makenna Gottschalk wrapped up her afternoon with four saves for the Aggies.
ABOUT THE AGGIES
• Following Sunday afternoon's setback at Seattle U, NM State sits in fourth place in the WAC's six-team West Division. NM State (nine points) trails Grand Canyon (17 points, first place), California Baptist (second place, 13 points) and Utah Valley (11 points, third place) in the division standings with three regular season matches to go. One of the remaining three matches on the Aggies' regular-season schedule are against West Division teams sitting below NM State in the league standings.
• For the seventh 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 4-3 (.571).
• 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 7-9 mark which features a 1.79 goals against average as well as 70 of the team's 71 saves.
• Gottschalk's save total this season is the second-highest among all WAC netminders and her three clean sheets are the fourth-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 130 to her credit. With four more saves, she will pass Mikaela Bitner for fourth 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 last 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 GRAND CANYON | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• On an eight-match unbeaten streak, Grand Canyon is one of two teams in the league who has yet to suffer a WAC loss this season.
• The Lopes continue to possess the WAC's best scoring offense (2.75 goals per game, 11th nationally) as well as the league's lowest goals against average (.721, 39th nationally).
• Senior Marleen Schimmer leads the WAC in a multitude of offensive categories including total goals (10), goals per game (0.62), assists per game (0.56), shots per game (5.31) and points per game (1.81).
• Gianna Gourley (nine goals) and Lindsay Prokop (eight goals) round out the Lopes' top three goal scoring threats.
• Between the pipes, Jordan Ferguson owns a 12-2-2 record and has made 54 of her team's 58 saves. Her heaviest single-match workload came on Saturday, Oct. 9, when NM State put eight shots on net - all of which she saved.
COMING UP NEXT
• With the final week of the regular season looming, NM State prepares for visits from a pair of Utah squads. The Aggies start their last week of regular season play by hosting Utah Valley Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.
++NM State++
