Liga MX Femenil recap: 2020 Apertura, Week 10

This week had two heavyweight matchups: Tigres vs. América and the Clásico Tapatío between Chivas and Atlas, and both games didn’t disappoint. Tigres and América was a chess match, and both teams can take pride in knowing they went toe-to-toe with one of the top clubs in the league and played well. Chivas and Atlas however will leave Atlas fans proud of their team and should give the team a mental boost, while Chivas may use this as fuel to fire them up for the rest of the season.

Elsewhere in the league we started to see some separation between the top five clubs (with Rayadas joining the aforementioned clubs) and the emergence of a second pack of teams that will most likely vie for the remaining three slots. Pumas, Pachuca, and Querétaro currently occupy slots six through eight, however there is just three points between Pumas and Querétaro and four points between Querétaro and Toluca, Santos, Juárez, and Mazatlán. With seven weeks of soccer left to go, those teams will be looking to pick up as many points as they can to make their case for the Liguila.

Club Atlético de San Luis 0, UNAM Pumas 2: Pumas coach Yleana Dávila marked her 100th game with a 2-0 win over San Luis. Pumas dominated possession and shooting, and finally broke through in the 75th when they hit Atleti on a counter and a nice cutback pass found Liliana Rodríguez alone in space in the box. She took a touch and fired past Cintia Monreal to give Pumas the lead. Daniela García bagged her fourth goal of the season in the 85th when she beat the offside trap and knocked one past Monreal.

Necaxa 2, León 1: On the same day that León found out their stadium was no longer theirs, León Femenil had to put on a brave face for the organization and play against Necaxa in Aguascalientes. While they fought valiantly, it was Necaxa who came away with all three points. Dulce Alvarado put Las Centellas up in the 29th when she stayed onside then raced to get to a ball that had hit off of the crossbar, jumping and kicking the ball into the back of the net past Maricruz González. Sairy López extended the lead in the 50th minute when she made a nice play to corral a bouncing pass, bring it down, cut in, and hit a shot just over the outstretched hand of González. Las Esmeraldas pulled one back in the 65th when Doris Meza dropped a cross into the box and it fell to Nailea Vidrio, who got the easy tap in. But it wasn’t enough for the visitors as Necaxa got their second win of the season.

FC Juárez 0, Santos Laguna 2: A good solid win for Santos as they re-insert themselves into the Liguilla conversation. Anahí Rentería got her first goal of the season when Cinthya Peraza played her through on a counter and Rentería knocked it past Alondra Ubaldo in the 24th minute of play. Then in the 52nd minute Alexia Villanueva got in past the midfield and hit a bouncing ball with a corkscrew kick up to Alexxandra Ramírez. Ramírez chested the ball and hit a volley over the outstretched arms of the diving Ubaldo for the insurance goal. From there it was Wendy Toledo and the Santos defense keeping the clean sheet, although to her credit Ubaldo did well to prevent the lead from growing any bigger.

Puebla F.C. 0, Mazatlán FC 1: Melissa Arredondo’s goal was the difference as Mazatlán picks up their third win of the season, downing Puebla 1-0. The win was also goalkeeper Mariana Zárraga’s third shutout of the season. Arredondo picked up her first goal of the season in the 34th minute when she was the trailing runner and got a great cutback pass, shooting it perhaps off of a Puebla defender and in past Brissa Rangel.

Tigres UANL 1, América 0: A fairly even match, albeit perhaps a more defensive one than we might have expected. Tigres got the lone goal in the 28th minute after Jana Gutiérrez gave up a free kick in a dangerous position. América never really cleared out the free kick, and a ball in from Liliana “Sully” Mercado found the head of Greta Espinoza. The header went back across the goal and into Belén Cruz. Truth be told, both goalkeepers were the stars of the show however as Ofelia Solís and Renata Masciarelli both made fantastic saves to keep their teams in the match. Masciarelli also had to deal with América going down a player when Marcela Valera picked up a red card in the 56th minute.

Toluca 0, Monterrey 1: A fairly even match and a step in the right direction by Toluca, who lost their first match in their last four at home against Rayadas. Christina Burkenroad continues to light up the league, scoring her eighth goal of the season in the 34th minute when she put her head into a cross in from Aylin Aviléz. Toluca looked to have scored late, but Destinney Duron was ruled to have been offside on her header. Goalkeeper Claudia Lozoya picked up her third straight shutout for Rayadas, who sit one point behind archrivals Tigres for superlíder.

Pachuca 0, Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 1: Lizette Rodríguez scored her third goal of the season in the third minute as Querétaro keeps themselves in a Liguilla spot for another week. Ruth Arana got her fourth shutout in six appearances for Querétaro, while Pachuca loses their second match in a row.

Guadalajara 0, Atlas 3: While Atlas has been a good team for quite a while now, this win was a shock because of how easy they made it look to bring the previously unbeaten Chivas down. Paola García put Atlas up first in the 19th minute when she got onto a Janeth Hernández cross and knocked it past Blanca Félix, who was going the wrong way. Alison González doubled the lead in the 51st minute when she converted a penalty kick after Adriana “Boyi” Iturbide was brought down in the box. Then just four minutes later it was Joana Robles hitting a free kick from long distance that Boyi did well to distract Félix and fake the touch, allowing the ball to go in unimpeded.

Club Tijuana 1, Cruz Azul 1: Tijuana gets their second draw in a row as they tie Cruz Azul 1-1 at the Mictlán. Karime Abud got the goal for the visitors in the 47th minute when she got a touch on a free kick that knocked the ball into the post with enough backspin to have it roll across the turf over the goal line. Isabel Fonseca equalized for Xolos Femenil in the 58th minute when she was able to get to a cross that was dummied through traffic, rifling it into the top of the net.

Next week:

Wednesday, October 14:

Mazatlán FC (3W 1D 6L) vs. FC Juárez (3W 1D 6L)

América (7W 2D 1L) vs. Puebla F.C. (2W 2D 6L) - 12:55 PM Eastern / 9:55 AM Pacific (TUDN USA Facebook)

León (2W 3D 5L) vs. Guadalajara (8W 1D 1L)

Necaxa (2W 0D 8L) vs. Tigres UANL (9W 1D 0L)

Santos Laguna (2W 4D 4L) vs. Pachuca (5W 1D 4L)

Thursday, October 15:

Atlas (7W 2D 1L) vs. Club Atlético de San Luis (3W 0D 7L)

Monterrey (9W 0D 1L) vs. Club Tijuana (0W 2D 8L)

UNAM Pumas (5W 2D 3L) vs. Cruz Azul (2W 3D 5L) - 12:55 PM Eastern / 9:55 AM Pacific (TUDN)

Gallos Blancos de Querétaro (4W 2D 4L) vs. Toluca (3W 1D 6L)