Road shutout wraps up regular season

Friday, April 9

Las Cruces, N.M.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

New Mexico State

4/9/2021 3:54:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

Lopes' 2-0 win at NMSU continues surge before WAC Tournament at GCU

By: Jerob Moon

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Grand Canyon women's soccer team wrapped up the regular season with a 2-0 shutout at New Mexico State on Friday.

The Lopes (7-8-1, 7-4-1 WAC) have now clinched the No. 3 seed in next week's WAC Tournament, which will be at GCU Stadium. It is the highest seed the team has earned since becoming eligible for postseason play in 2017. GCU will face No. 6 seed Chicago State at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

The 2-0 shutout was the culmination of a turnaround that started for the Lopes back in mid-March, leading to a 6-1-1 record in their last eight regular-season games. The Lopes have outscored their opponents 24-6 in that span, giving them a season total of 31 goals that is the second most since the team made the jump to Division I.

"I'm just so proud of the way our soccer family has competed in the last month and a half," GCU head coach Chris Cissell said. "Today, we had to battle strong winds, along with New Mexico State, and I thought the team handled it well. We stayed aggressive on the offensive end all day and we were finally able to push across two goals in the second half. We're looking forward to competing at home in next week's WAC Tournament."

In defeating the Aggies (4-12-1, 4-9-1 WAC), the Lopes held a bulk of the possession and outshot New Mexico State 21-10. Sophomore forward Raeanne Jones and junior midfielder Marleen Schimmer led the GCU offensive attack with 10 shots combined.

Late in the second half, it was the substitutions that made the biggest impact in the game. Junior forward Remmi Deutsch subbed in for the Lopes in the 73rd minute and immediately broke away on the counterattack after an Aggie corner kick.

Deutsch raced from box to box on the right side of the field and found Jones, who tapped the pass up with her left foot and slotted it home with her right foot while in between two defenders.

Forty seconds later, GCU scored again when Jones and senior forward Camryn Larson linked up in front of the goal with Larson taking Jones' pass and scoring with her right foot. It was Jones' fifth straight game with an assist and Larson's 14th career goal, tying her for third most in GCU's Division I history.

It was the first time the Lopes had scored two goals in less than a minute since a 4-1 win over Portland State in 2018.

Goalkeeper Jordan Ferguson, coming off her first career WAC Defensive Player of the Week, recorded four saves in a second straight shutout. She was helped on the defensive line by center backs Tyler Ferguson and Hannah Edwards, who both played all 90 minutes.

The Lopes and Cougars will meet in the WAC Tournament for the first time on Tuesday. Two weeks ago, GCU won both of the teams' regular-season matchups on the road by 6-1 and 4-0 scores.