Marking its third tie of the season, the San José State women’s soccer team drew a 1-1 score against the University of New Mexico at the Spartan Soccer Complex field on Thursday.
Lobos forward Aléjandra Puerto scored the first goal of the game in the second half, assisted by forward Nicole Anderson.
Junior forward Paige Pineda-Aliamus secured the Spartans’ only goal of the match, when she equalized six minutes after the Lobos goal, assisted by Daisy Torres.
It’s Pineda-Aliamus’s first season with the team, who previously played for City College of San Francisco.
“There was pressure in them scoring first and getting that penalty kick pretty early on, I feel like we got a little rattled at first,” Pineda-Aliamus said. “But we settled into the game better.”
Despite it being sophomore goalkeeper Paige Fry first season with the Spartans’ following her transfer from Sam Houston State, she played the entirety of the game.
The Lobos attempted 35 shots throughout the match, however Fry managed 6 saves, while the Spartans only made four shots throughout the match.
“We were busy, I mean, 35 shots on goal is just a lot, and I think there was definitely a lot of adversary too and my distribution wasn’t where it needed to be,” Fry said.
Fry said there were a few 1v1s in the match she wished was completed or assisted on but regardless she felt the game showed the team’s improvement.
“I mean, the Lobos were doing well, they were finding the wide channels,” Fry said. “They looked dangerous a few times, but I think we did just as good shutting them down.”
Spartans’ head coach Sonia Curvelo said that considering the number of shots that the Lobos posted, getting a tie was not a bad outcome but the team missed an opportunity to win.
“I would have loved to see a second goal for our team when we had a breakaway,” Curvelo said.
“I talked about this in our pregame that we were going to get that one breakaway in the game, and we got to make it count. I think those moments are game changers.”
The Spartans only have three home games left this season, against San Diego State on Sunday, Colorado State on Oct. 19, and Air Force on Oct. 23.
“Everybody wants to get better, everybody shows up for practices,” Pineda-Aliamus said. “Our practices the last couple days have been really good, super high intensity.”
SJSU also played at home against Grand Canyon University on Sunday, but lost 1-0.
Although 14 out of 30 players on the team are freshmen, Curvelo said she has seen them grow as they gain more experience.
“We’re hoping next time we can equalize and make those plays earlier on, and try to get an extra goal to sneak away,” Curvelo said. “Sometimes it’s not all about the shots that a team takes, but the quality of shots that are on goal.”