LAS CRUCES, N.M. – NM State opens Conference USA play against Sam Houston on Sept. 19 at 5:30 p.m. in Huntsville, Texas. The Aggies are 6-5-4 in conference openers throughout their program history.
 
How to Follow
Who: Sam Houston
Where: Huntsville, Texas
When: Thursday, Sept. 19, 5:30 p.m. MT
Live Stream: ESPN+
Live Statistics: nmstatestats.com
 
2023 CUSA Play
In their Conference USA season debut, the Aggies held a record of 6-0-2, the only team to go undefeated in the conference on their way to a regular season title. The Aggies recorded ties against FIU and Sam Houston at home to close the season.
 
In 2023, the Aggies ranked fourth in GAA with a 1.47. They also ranked third in Saves with 78 for an average of 4.11. Among the conference NM State recorded the most fouls in 2023.
 
Aggie Accolades
Both Jena Johannes and Valerie Guha earned Conference USA Player of the Week Awards, CUSA announced on Sept. 17. Johannes was named CUSA Defender of the Week for the first time in her career and Guha was tabbed CUSA Goalkeeper of the Week for the second time in her career.
 
The Aggies have now won five total Conference USA Weekly Awards this season, leading the conference in total weekly awards. They now have tallied 10 CUSA Weekly Awards in their first two seasons with the conference. This is just the second time in program history that the Aggies won two Conference Weekly Awards in the same week with the first time happening on Oct. 30, 2023, when both Meredith Scott and Guha won.
 
Record Watch
2023 Conference USA Player of the Year Loma McNeese has 22 career goals, now tied for second in program history. Along with this, she is also tied for first in-game winnings goals (7), in second place in points (59), tied for second in PK goals (2) and tied for second in multi-goal games (2).
 
 
Valerie Guha sits in second place in shutouts among all Aggie goalkeepers. She is also third in goalkeeper wins (13), second in GAA (1.32) and ninth in saves (83).
 
History
NM State and Sam Houston have played each other four times with the Aggies holding the advantage with a record of 2-1-1 over the Bearkats. The Aggies won their last matchup over the Bearkats 2-0 in the 2023 Conference USA Tournament.
 
The Aggies first faced off against Sam Houston in 2012 where they lost 0-1. They then played each other in 2022 in Huntsville, Texas where the Aggies won 1-0 marking their first victory over Sam Houston. The Aggies and Bearkats played each other twice last year, once in the regular season and once in the conference tournament.
 
Scouting the Bearkats
Sam Houston is currently 3-3-2 with wins over Houston, Houston Christian University and Southern University. Their three losses were against Rice, Lamar and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. They have ties against UIW and Stephen F. Austin.
 
The Bearkats have two players who have recorded three goals on the season, Landri Townsend and Gabrielle Williams. Townsend can be seen all over Sam Houston's statistics as she is leading the team in points (9), shots (26) and shots on goal (14) she is also tied with Ruth Larson in points with nine.
 
Sam Houston has had three keepers featured in the net with Cassia Souza leading them in minutes with 607. Souza also leads the Bearkats in GAA (1.04), saves (21), wins (3) and shots faced (62).
 
Up Next
NM State will come back home to have their Conference USA home opener against Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. MT. For complete coverage of NM State Women's Soccer, visit NMStateSports.com - the official home of Aggie athletics – and follow us on Twitter (@NMStateWSOC), Instagram (@nmstatewsoc) and like us on Facebook (NM State Women's Soccer)
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