Liga MX Femenil recap: 2021 Clausura, Week 4

A fun week of play that saw some surprises, some really competitive games, and a game that just descended into madness.

Necaxa 1, UNAM Pumas 1: A game that was much closer than anyone thought as Necaxa drew Pumas 1-1. Pumas largely outplayed Las Centellas, but it was Necaxa that got on the board first when Brianda Escobedo took advantage of a defensive mistake in the 34th minute. Pumas was able to equalize however in the moments after the start of the second half on Fabiola Santamaria’s second goal of the season. Pumas almost got a game-winner in stoppage when Dania Padilla hit a shot from distance that Daniela Muñoz made a fantastic diving stop on.

Atlas 2, León 1: Atlas continues to find a way week after week, downing León 2-1. Ana García’s brace was enough, as she fought for her first and was the recipient of a great cross from Alison González for the second. Ana Gaby Paz had another fantastic game in goal for Atlas, making several saves to keep her team in it (and getting bailed out by Alejandro Franco at one point). Joselyn De La Rosa finally broke Paz’ shutout in the 80th minute, but it was too little too late and Atlas are perfect through four.

FC Juárez 0, Mazatlán FC 1: Mazatlán continues to grind out results, downing Las Bravas 1-0 in Ciudad Juárez. Janae González picked up her first goal for Las Cañoneras in the 33rd minute, and Mariana Zárraga got her first clean sheet of the season. Manager Tity González meanwhile will need to figure out how to get the Juárez offense started, as they have been shut out in two of their four games and scoring just two goals so far in 2021.

Monterrey 2, Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 0: Rayadas bounce back from their loss last week to Pumas with a solid 2-0 win over Querétaro. Monterrey was typically aggressive in the attack and Dani Solís was the beneficiary, scoring goals in the 15th and again in stoppage at the end of the match. Querétaro largely did well to keep Rayadas from scoring more than they did, but still have just three points out of four games in 2021.

Puebla 1, Cruz Azul 1: A step in the right direction for Puebla, drawing a tough Cruz Azul side 1-1 at home. Mariana Ramos’ goal in the 16th allowed Puebla some breathing room, but Alejandra Curiel scored her third goal in three appearances in the 70th minute to get the draw for La Maquina, who are still undefeated in this year.

Club Atlético de San Luis 3, Club Tijuana 5: This game was absolutely wild, as all eight goals were scored before the first half was done. Kimberly Reséndiz put Atleti up in the seventh, but then Renae Cuéllar proceeded to score a hat trick in the next 13 minutes. After Cuéllar had made it 3-1, San Luis’ Paola Aleman scored off of the restart, chipping Itzel González from the halfway circle. Rosa Aguiar and Nancy Zaragoza added goals for Tijuana and Edith Carmona rounded out the scoring for San Luis, and goalkeeper Stefani Jiménez was pulled at halftime.

América 2, Toluca 2: A good game between two strong teams with a lot to prove. Fer Piña scored her first Liga MX Femenil goal in the second minute, but Arlett Tovar equalized in the 16th with a rocket of a free kick from 20 yards out. Daniela Flores regained the lead for the home side in the 36th with a diving header, and it looked like América was going to get the better of Toluca but Natalia Mauleon got to a corner kick in the 75th and knocked it in to get an important point on the road for Toluca and keep their unbeaten run going.

Pachuca 1, Guadalajara 0: Pachuca gets their first win of 2021 by handing Chivas their first loss of the season. The game had been a very even struggle and looked like it was going to end in a 0-0 draw until Mónica Ocampo hit a free kick in the 88th minute to pick up the win for Pachuca at Estadio Hidalgo, which if there is any justice in the world will have a statue of her put up in her honor.

Santos Laguna 0, Tigres UANL 3: A tough loss for Santos, who really hung with Tigres through most of a scrappy, foul-filled game. A bit of controversy in the 11th minute when Stefany Mayor went in hard on Dani Delgado but only received a yellow card. Santos almost got to the half before conceding but Katty Martínez scored her fourth goal in four games in the 44th minute. Santos got even unluckier in the 64th when a Tigres free kick hit off of the crossbar and the rebound hit off of Cinthya Peraza and went in for an autogol. Then in the 85th Mayor made an absolutely fantastic goal-scoring run that was (not unfairly) compared to ones made by Lionel Messi.

Next week (all records are in W-D-L format):

Wednesday, February 3:

UNAM Pumas (3-1-0) vs. FC Juárez (0-1-3) - TUDN (Mexico) - 3:45 PM Central

Club Tijuana (1-0-3) vs. Mazatlán FC (2-1-1) - 9:00 PM Central

Thursday, February 4:

Atlas (4-0-0) vs. Pachuca (1-1-2) - TVC Deportes (Mexico) - 10:00 AM Central

Toluca (3-1-0) vs. Puebla F.C. (0-1-2) - TUDN (United States and Mexico) - 12:00 PM Central

Necaxa (0-1-3) vs. América (1-2-1) - Claro Sports (Mexico) - 4:00 PM Central

León (1-1-2) vs. Santos Laguna (1-0-2) - FOX Sports (Mexico) - 5:00 PM Central

Monterrey (3-0-1) vs. Cruz Azul (2-2-0) - FOX Sports (Mexico) - 7:00 PM Central

Friday, February 5:

Club Atlético de San Luis (0-0-4) vs. Tigres UANL (3-0-1) - 4:00 PM Central

Gallos Blancos de Querétaro (1-0-3) vs. Guadalajara (3-0-1) - TVC Deportes (Mexico) 5:00 PM Central