BAKERSFIELD, Calif.-- After a double overtime battle resulted in a draw to open Western Athletic Conference play last week, the CSU Bakersfield women's soccer team will continue its march through the WAC schedule with a pair of road matches this week. The Roadrunners will travel to face NM State Oct. 2 before wrapping up the weekend at UTRGV Oct. 4.
"These are two, huge road games this weekend for our team,” Gary Curneen, Head Coach of the 'Runners, said before his team took off. “It's a challenging trip in terms of travel, so, I am excited to see what we are made of, both physically and mentally. We gave a fantastic performance last week against Grand Canyon, so, we must continue to make progress and focus on our work rate and mentality. If we bring our best to both games, we will put ourselves in a great position to get results."
NM State comes into the match with a record of 2-8-0 (1-0-0 WAC) after defeating fellow conference member UTRGV 2-1 at home last Sunday. The Aggies hold a narrow, 3-2 all-time series lead on the 'Runners after the two programs split a pair of games in 2014. CSUB defeated NMSU 4-2 at home but fell to the Aggies 3-0 in the WAC Tournament in November.
The Aggies are led by freshman Aileen Galicia who boasts four goals coming into the week. Rian Nials and Ashley Martin have shared time in goal almost evenly for NMSU while the former has a lower goals against average (2.13 vs. 3.00).
UTRGV (2-5-3, 0-1-0 WAC) has been defeated in each of its last three matches including the 2-1 loss to NMSU last weekend. The 2014 meeting between the 'Runners and Vaqueros was the first in the two programs' histories and CSUB took a 4-2 victory at home.
The Vaqueros have a pair of leading goal scorers in Andreya Barrera and Elisa Espino. The two both have a pair of goals this year while Espino leads the team with seven points thanks to three assists. Erica Gonzalez has earned the majority of time in front of the net for UTRGV and has a 1.66 goals against average on the year.
Friday's match against NM State is set to kick off at 3 p.m. (MDT) and live stats can be found on the CSUB women's scocer schedule page. Sunday's faceoff in Edinburg, Texas can be viewed at this link starting at 1 p.m. (CDT) and will also have live stats available.
~GoRunners.com~
