Liga MX Femenil recap: 2020 Apertura, Week 8

This past week was for the goal scorers, with 37 scored across the nine games which included a 0-0 shutout draw between Santos and Puebla. Monterrey is the only perfect team remaining, although they, Tigres, América, and Chivas have really separated themselves from the rest of the league. On the other end of the spectrum, Tijuana once again blew a lead to lose their eighth straight game and Cruz Azul continues to plummet from what was thought by many to have been a strong start.

Club Atlético de San Luis 3, Cruz Azul 1: Cruz Azul’s descent continues as they lost 3-1 to Atlético San Luis. Karla Zempoalteca put Cruz Azul up in the 17th when she converted a penalty kick, but after that it was all Atleti. Paola Alemán tied it in the 37th with a free kick from almost the halfway line. Daniela Carrandi took advantage of some bad defending and a generous rebound on an initial shot to get San Luis the lead in the 71st. Alemán converted a penalty in the 92nd minute to add the exclamation point on the win for Atleti, who are now just one point out of a playoff spot. Cruz Azul meanwhile has lost four of their last five and sit 16th out of 18 teams.

Necaxa 0, Monterrey 1: Necaxa continues to show signs of improvement, however Monterrey was able to rely on their ace to eke out a 1-0 win. Desirée Monsiváis was able to hammer home a loose ball in the box in the 77th minute as Rayadas stay perfect on the season while Necaxa falls to 1W 0D 7L and remains in 17th place.

América 8, Mazatlán 0: Dalia Molina and Dani Espinosa both had braces while Veronica Pérez, Eva González, Montserrat Hernández, and Zaira Moreno each contributed goals in América’s 8-0 rout of Mazatlán. América dominated, leaving Mazatlán with the most goals against (30) and worst goal differential (-22) of any team in the league.

Tigres UANL 4, UNAM Pumas 0: Believe it or not, this was a close game. Tigres took the lead in the 37th minute when Katty Martínez converted a penalty. Pumas had a few good chances to tie the match, but “Killer” scored her second goal in the 87th minute, Liliana Mercado scored in the 93rd, and then immediately on the restart Maria Elizondo scored and just like that Pumas had lost 4-0.

Puebla F.C. 0, Santos Laguna 0: Wendy Toledo picks up her third shutout of the season and Brissa Rangel gets her fourth as Puebla and Santos end in a 0-0 draw. Toledo made “Save of the Week” nominations with her stop on Lupita Worbis in the 81st minute.

FC Juárez 3, Toluca 2: Another solid outing by Juárez, who now find themselves in the eighth and final playoff spot. Atzimba Casas got Juárez on the board in the first minute when she was able to stay onside and get to a long ball to knock it past Dayan Téllez. Celeste Vidal doubled the lead in the 10th minute when she hit a shot through traffic and in to the back of the net. But Toluca came back just two minutes later when Mariel Román hit a shot that evaded the Juárez defense to draw them within one. Melissa Sosa added a third goal for Juárez in the 42nd when she was able to corral a bouncing ball off of a corner kick and poke it home. Zaira Miranda made it interesting however in the 91st when she was able to capitalize on Juárez’ inability to clear the ball, but it was too little too late as Toluca now finds themselves in 13th place, three points behind Juárez for the final playoff spot.

Guadalajara 3, Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 1: A quiet first half turned around into a fairly dominant performance in the second by Chivas. Yashira Barrientos gave Chivas the lead in the 37th when she was left unattended in the box and got on the end of a great cross in by María Sánchez. “Chore” Mejía made some adjustments for the second half, and it paid off when Sánchez beat her mark and hit a screamer into the top of the net in the 65th. Sánchez then scored on a header four minutes later to make it 3-0. Valeria Miranda pulled one back for Querétaro in the 78th when she hit a long, arcing shot that caught Blanca Félix way off of her line. Félix landed awkwardly on the back bar of the goal and had to be attended to by the medical staff, but would finish out the match and otherwise appeared fine.

León 1, Atlas 5: Atlas is starting to put it all together, which is potentially problematic for the rest of the league. Joana Robles and Adriana “Boyi” Iturbide both scored braces and Norma Hernández added a late goal for Atlas, who sit in fifth place after eight weeks. León got a goal from Esmerelda Verdugo, her sixth on the season, in the 79th minute but La Fiera is winless in their last four and are two points out of a playoff spot.

Club Tijuana 2, Pachuca 3: Tijuana snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, losing to Pachuca 3-2 in Tijuana. Renae Cuellar scored her second goal of the season in the second minute with a chip over Silvia Machuca and then notched her third in the 43rd on a penalty, as Xolos Femenil looked like they were going to hand Tuzos Femenil their third loss in four games. But Viridiana Salazar’s header off of a corner kick in the 72nd put Pachuca on the board. Karla Nieto then tied the game four minutes later when no one picked up her run into the area. Then just as it looked like Tijuana would hang on for their first point of the season, Salazar got a pass down low, made a nice move to lose her defender, and hit one between Itzel González’ legs to complete the comeback and secure all three points for Pachuca.

Next week:

Thursday, October 1:

Gallos Blancos de Querétaro (2W 2D 4L), Necaxa (1W 0D 7L)

Friday, October 2:

Cruz Azul (1W 2D 5L) vs. FC Juárez (3W 1D 4L) - 4:55 PM Eastern / 1:55 PM Pacific (TUDN)

Saturday, October 3:

Atlas (5W 2D 1L) vs. Puebla F.C. (2W 2D 4L)

UNAM Pumas (4W 1D 3L) vs. América (7W 1D 0L) - 12:55 PM Eastern / 9:55 AM Pacific (TUDN, TUDN USA Facebook)

Monday, October 5:

Toluca (2W 1D 5L) vs. Club Atlético de San Luis (3W 0D 5L)

Pachuca (5W 1D 2L) vs. Tigres UANL (7W 1D 0L)

Santos Laguna (1W 3D 4L) vs. Club Tijuana (0W 0D 8L)

Mazatlán FC (2W 0D 6L) vs. León (2W 2D 4L)

Monterrey (8W 0D 0L) vs. Guadalajara (7W 1D 0L)