EL PASO, Texas- After conceding a trio of first half goals, the University of New Mexico women's soccer team was unable to recover from a hungry UTEP offense and eventually fell to the Miners 4-1 Thursday night at University Stadium in El Paso.

The Miners were quick to crash the Lobo goal, scoring in the 6th minute off a corner kick. Senior Miranda Cuthbertson was able to get on the end of Kate Stevens' kick to make the score 1-0. Nine minutes later, Senior Holly Cohen began a scoring spree that would eventually leave her with a hat trick. A defensive breakdown allowed Cohen a shot that slipped through the hands of UNM keeper Kristen Winters (Lakewood, Colo.). Cohen notched her second goal of the evening with ten minutes left in the second half. A free kick from fellow senior Kelly Parker was converted by Cohen, who able to get in behind an unorganized UNM defense and nudge the ball past Winters.

The second half spelled a different story for the Lobos. From the whistle, UNM worked to match the Miners' aggressive, physical style of play and were able to out shoot UTEP 15-12. Substitute defender Clare Pollock, gave New Mexico a much needed burst of defensive energy which stalled a majority of the Miner offensive power.

Twenty minutes into the second half of play, Holly Cohen would register the final UTEP goal and her third of the game. The Miners were able to find Cohen on a quick counter attack that stunned the Lobo defense and netminder Winters.

New Mexico, tired and battered, was not willing to let down and answered back with eight minutes left in the game. Rachael Addison (Katy, Texas) was able to get on the end of Michelle Longmire's (Los Alamos, N.M) corner kick and head the ball past UTEP keeper Kyla Clark. The Lobo goal would bring the final score to 4-1.

New Mexico finished the game within one shot of UTEP, at 25, and tied the Miners in corner kicks with six. Lobo goalkeeper Kristen Winters was kept busy between the pipes, making 15 saves.

"We made a lot of mistakes in the first half and made it hard for ourselves," said head coach Kit Vela. "We are a very young, inexperienced team and it's inevitable that we're going to make errors."

"Now we need to re-group and get ready for our game against Texas Tech. We need to be ready for whatever comes our way on Saturday," said Vela.

New Mexico will play its final game of the Miner Classic on Saturday against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at 7 p.m. in El Paso, Texas.Q

Lobos Women's Soccer

Printer-friendly format	Email this article