College soccer: As Lobos ride high and Aggies struggle, Sunday's rivarly match still looms large

In rivalries, they say throw out the records.

Heather Dyche subscribes to that theory.

Her UNM Lobo women's soccer team — off to one of the best starts in program history at 3-0-2 and coming off, arguably, as good a road trip as the program has ever had with back-to-back shutout wins at Big Ten Oregon and at Pac-12 Oregon State — hosts a NM State Aggies team off to one of its worst starts ever at 1-5-0 — outscored 13-1 in its past five losses.

"New Mexico State is very, very good, and if you look at their record right now, I think part of it is reflective of the teams they played," Dyche said. "I think they've played almost all Power 4 teams up until this point (NMSU's past five losses have been to four Big 12 and one Big Ten school). So I don't think their record is a reflection of their ability. They're very well coached, and there's a rivalry there. There's a lot of players on that team that don't like us. .. So we don't overlook them at all."

But it isn't as though the Lobos, unbeaten in five games, haven't been challenged.

The Lobos beat Oregon 1-0 on Aug. 28 in Eugene, Oregon, to give Dyche her 100th career coaching victory. Three days later, the Lobos got another clean sheet win over Oregon State, 1-0, in Corvallis, Oregon.

Asked if it was the biggest road trip in her coaching career, Dyche admitted she can't remember having a better one.

"I'm not sure we have," Dyche said. "I think if you would have told me that we were going to go up there and 1-1, I probably would have been really pleased with that. But the energy and the grind and the discipline that our team showed on that Thursday night game (at Oregon), I'm not sure I've seen that from our program in a long time. And then we couldn't really sub a lot in that game. It was just so heated. And so the players had very high minutes and a very high load, and then to turn around on the road on Sunday and play a team that you know is equally as athletic. I was just blown away by our group (last) weekend. Every single level, they just found a way to win."

Trajectory would tell you the Lobos, who are scoring 2.8 goals per game and allowing just 0.8, are sitting pretty going into Sunday. After all, the Aggies, who are allowing 2.17 goals per game and scoring just 0.5, have not yet been able to put together long stretches of play that would make anyone think Sunday will be much of a match.

But that, Dyche says, is the danger her team faces. She has, after all, recruited plenty of players currently playing in Las Cruces and ones who have played there in recent years and knows how good they can be.

She also knows how big a road win in the rivalry would be for the increasingly desperate Aggies. Familiarity, and pride, after all, mean far more in this game than probably any other on the schedule for both teams.

"They're bought into the program. They love being Aggies, and they always bring just kind of a heated rivalry to the game." Dyche said.

NOTES: The Lobos have eight New Mexicans on this year's team. The Aggies have four. … Dyche's first coaching win (of her 101 career wins) was against NMSU on Aug. 26, 2015 — a win Dyche admitted this past week she actually doesn't really remember. … Dyche is second all-time in coaching wins at UNM behind Kit Vela's 122 from 2001-2014. … Forward Nicole Anderson leads UNM with four goals scored this season.