Liga MX Femenil recap: 2022 Clausura, Week 4

It’d be misleading to say that this season has gotten off to a wild start, as wild doesn’t even begin to do it justice. The only unbeaten and untied team is in second place, San Luis is currently in a Liguilla spot, and only three teams are without a win going into Week 5. The doble jornada waits for no one, so without further adieu...

Cruz Azul 1, FC Juárez 0: A good game that Juárez could have come out of with something but it was not to be. Cruz Azul played well, almost scoring in the 10th minute on a tight-angle shot from Magaly Cortés that Diana García did well to turn over the crossbar. Ana Gaby Lozada broke the deadlock in the 38th minute when she got her head to a great cross in from Dani Auza, capitalizing on a mistake from García. Juárez got a good performance from Miah Zuazua, who made several dangerous runs and hit a free kick into the box in the 55th that could have been a goal if Susana Romero could have gotten on frame. Nancy Zaragoza almost added a second in the 82nd minute, but her free kick hit off of the crossbar and was cleared out. Then García came to the rescue again six minutes later when Gaby Huerta hit a shot from distance that García made a fantastic diving stop on.

Puebla F.C. 1, Pachuca 2: A hot Pachuca is bad news for the rest of the league, and they look like they’re heating up, downing Puebla In Puebla 2-1. Puebla gave a good account of themselves, playing their usual tight defense and keeping Pachuca off of the board during the first half. At the start of the second half though Puebla conceded a handball in the box on a Charlyn Corral shot. Corral stepped up to the spot and converted to break the deadlock. A turnover deep allowed Karla Nieto to find Mónica Ocampo at the top of the box, and she unleashed a shot that went in off of the underside of the crossbar in the 62nd. Puebla drew one back in the 69th when Verónica Martins hit a shot in the box that hit Daniela Arias in the hand. Martins stepped up and converted the penalty, but that’s as close as Puebla would get as Pachuca gets their third win in four games.

León 1, Club Tijuana 1: León picks up their first point of the season, drawing Tijuana 1-1 at the Nou Camp. Renata Castellanos got her second straight start in goal for Xolos Femenil after Itzel Gonzélez signed with Sevilla in Spain’s Liga Iberdrola. Castellanos had a bit of a rough game, almost conceding one in the 20th minute when she mis-judged a cross into the box, slapping it down into the path of Yazmin Álvarez, but Álvarez couldn’t control it and the chance was wasted. Castellanos was bailed out by Yadira Toraya in the 27th when Dani Calderón hit a free kick that Castellanos jumped for and couldn’t reach. Toraya was perfectly positioned on the goal line however and headed it out to safety. Castellanos then bobbled a ball in the 62nd minute that squirted free to Fátima Vargas, who took a touch and easily knocked it in for the game’s first goal. Tijuana started applying pressure however, and Castellanos made a nice stop in the 79th on a long range shot from Vargas. It paid off for Tijuana in the 85th when León couldn’t quite clear the ball out of their end and Angelina Hix hit a looping shot over Ángeles Martínez to draw the sides level. Rosa Aguilar almost won it for Tijuana in stoppage with an arcing shot in the box that hit the far corner and bounced clear.

Monterrey 4, Mazatlán FC 0: A thorough rout by Rayadas, who remain the only unbeaten and untied team in the league. Dani Solís almost put Monterrey up in the 28th but couldn’t get enough of a touch on the cross into the box from Alejandra Calderón. Just when it looked like Mazatlán would make it to halftime without conceding, poor defending allowed Desirée Monsiváis just enough space to hit a shot that trickled inside the near post in the 44th minute. Monterrey really opened it up in the second half though, with Aylin Aviléz getting her first goal of the season off of a set piece. A minute later Rayadas scored again when Monsiváis got a shot in the box that was deflected out by goalkeeper Alondra Ubaldo. The rebound went straight to Diana García, and she fired it home for her first of the season. It wouldn’t be long before she got her second; eleven minutes to be precise. Christina Burkenroad drove down the right side of the pitch and threaded a ball across to García to put the exclamation point on the win for Monterrey.

Santos Laguna 1, Toluca 0: Santos gets their first win of the season, downing Toluca 1-0 at home. Both teams played well, with the defenses doing well to limit the work that the goalkeepers had to do for their teams. Lucy Lara had a phenomenal tackle in the 60th minute on Destinney Duron as she went in on goal. The game changed in the 66th minute however when Yamanic Martínez was shown her second yellow card and sent off for a hard tackle on Alexxandra Ramírez. With the open space, Santos was able to get the only goal of the night three minutes later when Dani Delgado hit a nice through ball that Alexia Villanueva was able to hit past former Santos goalkeeper Wendy Toledo. Santos almost got a second in the 72nd minute when Ramírez made a couple of moves to lose the defender and hit a shot that smashed into the crossbar but bounced out of harm’s way. A scary moment for both teams in the 85th minute when Brenda López and Stephanie Baz clashed heads in the box, López was subbed out while Baz remained on. The win pushed Santos from 16th place up to 11th in the table.

Necaxa 0, Guadalajara 3: Licha Cervantes got her first hat-trick of the season as Chivas downed Necaxa 3-0 in Aguascalientes. Cervantes got her first in the 13th minute after drawing a penalty when Karen De Luna pulled on her jersey as she ran into the box. Cervantes’ second came in the 25th when she got her head onto a cross into the box from Rubí Soto, knocking it past Lupita Olvera. She got her third of the game in the 38th when Olvera gave up a rebound on a shot from distance from Carolina Jaramillo and Cervantes was there to pounce on it and rifle it home. Luisa De Alba almost added a fourth in the 83rd minute but Olvera made a solid stop. Necaxa has played well this season but this loss will sting, and they’ve got a tough slate of matches with América and Atlas on the docket in the next two weeks.

Club Atlético de San Luis 1, América 4: A solid win for América despite the goings on of the past week. Janelly Farías got the scoring started in the eighth minute when she headed in a corner kick that was misjudged by goalkeeper Ivette Alvarado. San Luis almost equalized in the 21st when Citlali hit a shot from the right side that was headed off of the line by Jocelyn Orejel. América wouldn’t be so lucky 15 minutes later however when Renata Masciarelli punched a free kick out of the box but it went to Caro Zepeda, and she was able to calmly knock in the equalizer. Katty Martínez broke the deadlock in the 78th when she converted a penalty, and from there it was all América. In the 88th minute Jocelyn Orejel found Dani Espinosa with a nice cross into the box that Espinosa headed in, and then in stoppage Espinosa hit a cross in for “Katty Killer” who headed it in for the fourth goal of the evening, her third since joining América.

Gallos Blancos de Querétaro 0, UNAM Pumas 0: All even at Estadio Olímpico Alameda as Querétaro and Pumas play to a scoreless draw. It looked like that wouldn’t be the case in the third minute when Valeria Miranda hit a shot past Melany Villeda, but the goal was waved off as being offside. Villeda came up big in the eighth minute, making a stop on a good shot from Daniela Sánchez. Vanessa Córdoba also had a fantastic game, making an absolutely incredible stop in the 28th minute. Sánchez was brought down in the box in the 34th minute, but Villeda made the stop on former teammate Jaquelín García’s penalty attempt. Dani Flores looked to have won it in the 86th minute when she got a ball over the top and knocked it past Villeda, but it too was called offside. The replays were much less certain than the goal that was called off in the first half, however without the benefit of VAR the call stood as it was and the teams each ended with a point.

Tigres UANL 5, Atlas 1: Perhaps the shock result of the tournament, as while Atlas wasn’t expected to win, they also weren’t expected to suffer a 5-1 thrashing either. Atlas didn’t start off too bad, keeping Tigres relatively in check and getting some looks of their own. Tigres had the first good chance of the game in the 13th off of a corner kick, but goalkeeper Ana Gaby Paz did well to turn the ball over the crossbar. But it became the Uche Kanu show with a quick double strike, first in the 34th minute off of a cross in from Jana Gutiérrez and then as the replays of the first goal were playing Stephany Mayor played her in on goal. Paz made the first stop but the rebound went straight to Kanu, who knocked it in to put Tigres up 2-0. Tigres wouldn’t get their third until the 58th minute when Jackie “La Maga” Ovalle made some magic along the left wing, losing the defender and hitting hitting a ball into the box toward Belén Cruz, but unfortunately for Atlas it was knocked in by Joana Robles for an autogol. Kanu got her hat-trick two minutes later though when Cruz played a great ball out to Uche, who had drifted wide to the right. Unguarded, she volleyed the ball in past Paz to make her the first extranjera to get a hat-trick in Liga MX Femenil. Atlas drew one back when Fer Limón headed in a corner kick in the 85th minute, but just as the clock had gone past 90 minutes Blanca Solís hit a centering pass that Fer Elizondo somehow contorted to volley into the back of the net in an incredible goal.

No Notes and other things segment this time since it’s been just two days since the last one. If you have something that should be included in this segment next week, please reach out to me via twitter or email me at golazodelgringo@gmail.com

Next week (all records are in W-D-L format, all times as listed):

Sunday, January 30:

Toluca (1-1-2) vs. Pachuca (3-0-1) - 10:00 AM - TUDN (United States and Mexico)

Monday, January 31:

Atlas (1-2-1) vs. Puebla F.C. (0-1-3) - 12:00 PM - TVC Deportes (Mexico)

América (2-1-1) vs. Necaxa (1-1-2) - 3:45 PM - TUDN (United States and Mexico)

FC Juárez (1-0-2) vs. Monterrey (3-0-0) - 6:00 PM - TUDN (Mexico)

Guadalajara (3-1-0) vs. Cruz Azul (2-1-1) - 7:00 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico), Telemundo Deportes App (United States)

León (0-1-3) vs. Gallos Blancos de Querétaro (1-1-1) - 7:00 PM

UNAM Pumas (1-1-2) vs. Santos Laguna (1-1-2) - 8:00 PM - TUDN (United States and Mexico)

Mazatlán FC (0-2-2) vs. Club Atlético de San Luis (1-2-1) - 8:00 PM - TVP (Mexico)

Club Tijuana (1-3-0) vs. Tigres UANL (2-1-0) - 9:00 PM - FOX Sports (Mexico)