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Perfect pair: UNM one of only two schools in country with unbeaten women's soccer, volleyball teams
UNM Lobo volleyball and soccer graphicAs of Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, UNM was one of only two Division I schools with both it's women's soccer and women's volleyball teams undefeated.
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There are 347 Division I women's soccer teams this season, according to the NCAA. Only twenty five of those teams have not yet suffered a loss.
There are 344 Division I women's volleyball teams this season, of which 33 remain unbeaten.
As of Wednesday, just two schools — the University of New Mexico and Nebraska — have undefeated teams in both sports.
Both unbeaten Lobo teams — Heather Dyche's 4-0-2 soccer team and Jon Newman-Gonchar's 6-0 volleyball team — put their unbeaten records on the line Thursday; both traveling to California for tough matchups.
"You have incredible leadership — an incredible coach in Coach Heather. I'm thrilled to hear that for them, and I'm thrilled to hear that we're in that same conversation," said Newman-Gonchar.
"... It's an exciting time to be a Lobo, let's just say what it is. It's exciting to be a Lobo. It's great to see football having success. It's great that soccer is having the success. And I love that volleyball gets to be included in that conversation. I do think it speaks to the strength of the of the current (Athletic) Department."
Lobo volleyball is one of four teams playing Thursday through Saturday in "The Joust", a tournament hosted by Cal Baptist in Riverside, California.
UNM plays Portland State (1-5) on Thursday, Cal State Fullerton (4-2) on Friday and host Cal Baptist (2-4) on Saturday.
Dyche's Lobo soccer team is coming off three consecutive clean sheets — 1-0 road win at Oregon, 1-0 road win at Oregon State and a 4-0 win over in-state rival New Mexico State.
"I do think the way that our team has prepared all spring, the way that they kind of recommitted to the things that they knew were important to our program, I knew they were going to show up and fight," said Dyche. "And I think anytime that you can do that, and you can bring that grit, you give yourself a chance to play.
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"What I've been pleasantly surprised with is just kind of these exceptional performances by people that are really putting in tons of tons of work."
The Lobo soccer team plays at UC Santa Barbara (5-1-1) on Thursday night and at Cal State Fullerton (4-0-1) on Sunday, three days after CSF first plays NMSU on Thursday.
