EL PASO, Texas— It was a tough fought Battle of the I-10 rivalry game that saw UTEP defeat New Mexico State 2-0 Friday night at University Field. The Miners got off to a tough start in the first half, but redeemed themselves with some great possession and a terrific performance by junior midfielder Tess Hall to close the game out in the second half.

Hall scored a free kick from outside the box in the 35^th minute and followed that up with a great volley that found the back of the net just two minutes later to seal the two goal victory.

“Thank god for Tess Hall,” said head coach Kevin Cross. “ “We felt that in the first half we didn’t play our soccer and didn’t represent what we did in training camp, and I think the girls were tight maybe just because of the electric atmosphere. We played slow in the first half, and I talked to them at the half; it completely changed the soccer attack in them.”

UTEP started off the second half with the same adjustments they made at the end of the first, and there was a clear difference in the way they were playing. The Miners came out firing from the wings and made some crisp passes that led to seven shots on target. Coming off the bench, sophomore Jade Babcock made a big impact playing down the right side, where she created some chances by moving the ball towards the middle.

But it wasn’t just the offense that made adjustments, the defense looked invigorated.  Still, the night belonged to Hall; she displayed wonderful precision in her two scored goals.

“I’m stoked,” said Hall. “The second goal I didn’t expect at all, but credit to the teammates because they’re the ones that created the set pieces. I was just the last one that got the last touch on the ball. We specifically practice set pieces during practice because we know that set pieces win games and that was definitely proven tonight with the two goals off of set pieces.”

UTEP had a tough time during the first half of the game trying to control possession of the ball because of the grittiness of the New Mexico State midfielders. The Aggies controlled most of the possession during the first half not allowing the Miners to get the ball in NMSU’s half of the field. New Mexico State defended the Miners with solidarity, but the Miners made some adjustments with 10 minutes left in the first half to start pressuring the Aggie defense. Once freshman winger Amanda Katada subbed into the game, it took pressure off the midfield in the middle and allowed the offense to open up and play down the sides.

Despite the two-goal victory the Miners knew that they were up against a difficult opponent in NMSU.

“I thought they were very disciplined and very good at pushing out on the outsides, and as soon as we got the ball in the middle there were four people to the ball and we barely had time,” said sophomore midfielder Tori Martyn.

In the end, it proved to be a great first test for the Miners on their home field. The UTEP fans also showed their support with a total attendance of 1,705 fans attending the rivalry game and setting a new record at University Field for the Miners.

“It was incredible having this kind of atmosphere, and you’re not going to get that anywhere else,” said Cross. “We improved from first half to second half, and so now we’ll improve for next Friday.”

UTEP next takes on Houston Baptist on Friday 26^th at University Field at 7 p.m.

Gus Contreras can be reached at show@minerillustrated.com