Liga MX Femenil recap - Week 17

With just two weeks left to go in the season, the Liguilla is all but set. There are only two teams mathematically still on the bubble, and the real competition will be to see how the four team knot from fourth through seventh place will work itself out. Congratulations are in order to both Rayadas for setting a new wins record with 14 in one season as well as Necaxa for winning their first match of the season. Both of these show positive progress, and although the scale is different the achievements should both be celebrated regardless.

UNAM Pumas 1, Atlas 2: In the first meeting ever between the two teams, Atlas defeated Pumas 2-1. Mariela Jiménez scored just seventeen seconds into the match for Pumas, but it wasn’t enough as Fabiola Ibarra equalized in the 11th minute on a rocket of a free kick. Alison González got her eighth goal of the season in the 73rd when Zellyka Arce hit a perfect pass into the box and González got her head on it, beating Melany Villeda for the game winner. Atlas is in a four-way tie for fourth place with América, Tijuana, and Toluca with 28 points.

Puebla 0, Cruz Azul 0: Brissa Rangel got her fifth shutout of the season as Puebla and Cruz Azul ended in a 0-0 tie. Gabriela Herrera got her second shutout in nine appearances for the guests. This game was marred by a controversy that had nothing to do with the match play however, as after the game Puebla captain María José López took to twitter to allege that fourth official Edgar Pablo Villa had requested the players show the tops of their undergarments even though the players weren’t wearing lycra compression shorts underneath. The FMF immediately opened an investigation into the incident, and ruled that while the referee would not be sanctioned they would adopt a rule that at least one woman be on every refereeing crew to ensure that equipment checks could be conducted on the women by women.

Querétaro 0, Toluca 0: A missed opportunity for Toluca as they could have leapfrogged three teams into fourth place with a win against Querétaro, but instead wound up with a 0-0 draw. Natalia Acuña got her third shutout of the year for the hosts, while Alondra Ubaldo got her first in six appearances this season for Toluca.

Necaxa 1, Santos Laguna 0: Necaxa got their first win since the final week of last season, downing Santos 1-0 in Aguascalientes. Dulce Alvarado was the hero for Las Centellas, getting onto the end of a Fanny Grano pass in the 61st minute and knocking it Wendy Toledo. While neither team will make the Liguilla, Necaxa should look to build off of this win and Santos has a good project going and shouldn’t be discouraged by this loss.

Morelia 3, Pachuca 3: A wild one in Morelia as Monarcas fought for their Liguilla lives against a strong Pachuca squad. Before the clock hit the minute mark, Dalia Molina ran through the Pachuca defense, drew out and went past goalkeeper Alejandria Godínez, and shot into the back of the net. Viridiana Salazar equalized in the eighth minute when Paola López hit a great cross into the box and Salazar’s header went past Diana García. Salazar got a second in the 21st minute on a rocket of a shot from just outside of the box. Morelia would pull level in the 68th when Alejandra Calderón was played through and hit a shot that beat Godínez. Pachuca looked like they had a game winner in the 86th when Gloria Narváez was played in on López and chipped the goalkeeper, but María Cruzaley got her head on a free kick as the clock struck 90 to salvage a point for Morelia. Pachuca are pretty solidly in third place, four points behind Tigres for second place and five points over the pack in fourth through seventh place. Morelia however is in tenth, five points behind Chivas with two games left.

Veracruz 3, Juárez 1: With all of the issues that Veracruz was having off the field, it’s easy to forget that their women’s program still has some good players and was once a Liguilla candidate. It’s good to see the women on the team able to focus on soccer and perform like they’re able to. The match against Juárez was pretty even until just after the half when a defensive mistake by Veracruz allowed Flor Rodríguez to hit a shot from distance that beat María Ayala. In the 50th minute, Veracruz would equalize when Magaly Cortés was played in and hit a shot that seemed to catch goalkeeper Silvia Machuca off guard. Veracruz got the game winning goal in the 70th minute when Casandra Montero got her head to a corner kick and Monique Burgess was able to then head that into the back of the net. Four minutes later Tiburonas would score again when Liliana Hernández got a great ball over the top, battled a defender, and hit a shot past Machuca.

Leon 2, Tijuana 0: León pulls an upset over Tijuana, downing Xolos 2-0 in Guanajuato. León went up in the 18th minute when Yamile Franco spun away from a defender in the box and hit a blast that went in off of the underside of the bar. Xolos pressed for a goal but they were unable to pull level, and Diana García put the game away in the 86th when she was left unattended in the box and got her foot onto a cross, unleashing a shot that Itzel González really had no shot at stopping. Tijuana is still in Liguilla contention, part of the four-way tie for fourth place while León is out of contention.

Tigres UANL 2, América 1: The marquee match of the week as the two teams that have combined to win the last three Liga MX Femenil titles faced off at El Volcán. Jackie Ovalle put Tigres on the board in the 25th minute when she was left alone in the box and got to a cross that an América defender missed heading out of danger. In a play that was pretty indicative of the tone of the match, Blanca Solís and Esmerelda Verdugo got tangled up and after the whistle Solís gave Verdugo a little shove and Verdugo shoved back. Both got right in each other’s face before being separated by teammates and the referee before both were shown yellow cards. Neither woman was backing down, and neither team backed down. Belén Cruz got Tigres’ second goal in the 81st minute, getting a glancing header off of a free kick. Daniela Espinosa pulled one back for América in the 84th on a beautiful curling free kick, but Las Águilas couldn’t find an equalizer. Tigres keeps pace with Monterrey while América sinks into the four-way tie from fourth through seventh place.

Monterrey 3, Guadalajara 1: Monterrey beat their own record by defeating a very good Chivas team 3-1 in Nuevo León for their 14th win of the season. Daniela Solís scored the first goal of the match in the 11th minute when she was the recipient of a fantastic ball forward from Dinora Garza, drew out goalkeeper Blanca Félix, and calmly shot the ball into the net. Solís doubled the lead in the 18th when she was played in behind the Chivas defense and beat Félix with a good shot. Gabriela Huerta got one back for Chivas just before the half when she was able to capitalize on some confusion on the Rayadas back line and get to a throw in and tap it in. Desirée Monsiváis got her 15th goal of the season when she made an excellent run with Jazmin Aguas on goal. Aguas hit her in stride, allowing Monsiváis to hit a shot on the outside of her right foot into the back of the net. Rayados need a win or a Tigres draw or loss to clinch the superlíder position. Chivas on the other hand is in eighth place, five above Cruz Azul and Morelia but only one behind the pack of four teams ahead of them.

Bye week: Atlético San Luis

Next week:

Friday, November 1:

Juérez (1W 3D 12L) vs. Querétaro (5W 4D 7L)

Saturday, November 2:

Atlas (7W 7D 2L) vs. Tigres UANL (11W 4D 1L)

América (8W 4D 4L) vs. Cruz Azul (6W 4D 6L)

Sunday, November 3:

Guadalajara (8W 3D 5L) vs. UNAM Pumas (4W 6D 6L)

Monday, November 4:

Veracruz (3W 5D 8L) vs. Necaxa (1W 2D 13L)

León (5W 4D 7L) vs. Puebla (5W 5D 7L)

Santos Laguna (4W 4D 8L) vs. Morelia (6W 4D 6L)

Atlético San Luis (2W 4D 10L) vs. Pachuca (10W 3D 3L)

Tijuana (8W 4D 4L) vs. Monterrey (13W 0D 2L)

Bye week: Toluca (8W 4D 5L)