GCU has yet to allow 2 goals in any of its 1st 11 matches this season
By: Paul Coro
With the Saturday night offensive breakthrough for Grand Canyon women's soccer, it could be easy to lose sight of what the Lopes defense has been doing all season.
History will not let it be overlooked, as this GCU team became the first one in the program's 31 years to not allow more than a goal in any of a season's first 11 matches. The Lopes offense made that distinction stand up in a 2-1 win at GCU Stadium that marked New Mexico's first conference loss.
GCU defender Piper Carlson
After the Lopes opened conference play with their fourth 1-1 tie of the season, the GCU offense gave its defense a much-deserved cushion with a 2-0 lead that stood up.
The Lopes (5-2-4, 1-0-1 MW) struck early again with a fifth-minute goal by junior midfielder Sophia Rubano and backed it up with junior forward Savannah Tafireyi's first goal as a Lope just before halftime. That allowed GCU to survive a New Mexico goal in the 54th minute, as the defense topped the 2024 Lopes team that did not allow a multi-goal tally for its first 10 matches.
Only one other GCU team in the Division I era (2017) lasted more than three matches without yielding two or more goals in a match.
Lopes sophomores Piper Carlson and Elle Stanley, senior Madison Hamm and fifth-year defender Adelaide Wolfe played every minute and combined with senior goalkeeper Emma Knack (three saves, including a goal-denying dive) to keep opponents to seven goals over 11 matches this season.
"We were gritty grinders and did what we had to do to get the result," Lopes head coach Chris Cissell said. "New Mexico is very good, so we knew it was going to be a battle. We kept talking all week that we're going to have to battle every second of every minute for 90 minutes. We kept putting the mindset in them that we had to be gritty grinders."
For the fourth time this season, GCU took a 1-0 lead in a match's first 10 minutes. Saturday night's first strike came in about 4 1/2 minutes when senior forward Ellie Johannes dribbled into the right side of the box, attracting the attention of the Lobos' defense. GCU forward Sophia Rubano
Johannes zipped a pass into the middle, where a deflection came the way of Rubano, who took one control touch before striking her team-high fourth goal of the season into the left side of the net.
"We've been putting in the work, and the coaches have been demanding more of us because they know we can give more," said Rubano, who shares the team's points lead (nine) with Johannes. "The work we've been putting into practice has just really started to pay off.
"When we all come together and give that energy, you can see it. There's a difference between last game and this game. I think we had a breakthrough, and I'm excited to see what we do going forward."
Rubano noted the quick feet of Johannes, who recorded her third assist of the season, and freshman forward Makayla Gwynn, who later recorded her second assist, create the space in the box for Lopes scoring opportunities.
In its nine-shot first half, GCU kept coming with the 1-0 lead to build up to where Gwynn ran a right-side dribble off Carlson's lead pass out of the backfield. With open space, Gwynn drew a Lobos defender before sending a cross to Tafireyi filling the middle.
The New Mexico goalkeeper could not get to the perfectly placed pass, leaving Tafireyi for a one-time, left-footed blast into the net. GCU forward Savannah Tafareyi
"It felt amazing, and I'm just so thankful for all of my teammates," said Tafireyi, a 5-foot-8 forward who transferred from Houston with GCU junior forward Amanda Adams. "Makayla with an incredible ball in the box, and so I decided to do my job and finish. She's so phenomenal at getting in behind. I'm super proud of her as a freshman for how she has really stepped up for the team."
After that goal connection between reserves, GCU played with a one-goal lead for the final 37 minutes after New Mexico used an attempted Lopes clear in the box for an unassisted goal by Nicole Anderson, who shares the MW lead with seven goals this season.
"We handled it better tonight," Cissell said of the Lopes' play with one-goal leads at 1-0 and 2-1. "We're just trying to figure out how to score more goals."
The win thrust the Lopes into a fourth-place tie in the Mountain West, but each of the three teams ahead of them have logged one more match than GCU. The Lopes play their next two matches on the road at UC Davis on Wednesday and Air Force on Oct. 11.
After scoring two goals over a three-match stretch, GCU has scored six goals in the past four matches.
"The coaches were pushing us and being really hard on the offense in such a great way," Tafireyi said. "They were wanting us to get in behind, wanting us to make the chances, wanting us to get into the box. I'm proud of the entire offensive group.
"My teammates are phenomenal. I just have such good people around me. I couldn't be more fortunate, and I thank God for this opportunity."
