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The is officially over for New Mexico United, but the club can now turn its full focus to the rest of the regular season. 

United will get to do so on a quick turnaround with a match at Lexington SC tonight.

Here are some things to note:

Free kicks

1. LOGGING THOSE MILES: United is certainly getting the chance to rack up travel reward points. The matchup at Lexington will be the second of New Mexico鈥檚 three-match road swing 鈥� part of a stretch of five out of seven games away from Isotopes Park.

Saturday鈥檚 trip to El Paso was the shortest of the bunch 鈥� roughly 270 miles one way. The rest will be more than 1,000 (again, all one way), so best to make sure all the traveling necessities are packed: snacks, pillows, headphones and any other kind of entertainment needed.

The outing in Kentucky will cover almost 1,400 miles, while the match at Birmingham Legion FC on July 24 will be nearly 1,300. The good news here is, with United playing Wednesday, it will have 10 days between those two games.

The match at Monterey Bay FC on Aug. 8 is a little more than 1,000 miles with the journey to Loudon United FC in Virginia on Aug. 22 almost 1,900. New Mexico has home matches sandwiched around those two. 

It鈥檚 a lot, but United has also played better on the road, which should help. After starting the season 1-4 in road matches, the club had gone 2-0-1.

2. A LITTLE TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: Just take a look at the

The club sitting third 鈥� NM United 鈥� and the club sitting 10th 鈥� Phoenix Rising FC 鈥� are separated by only four points. United has 21 (with Oakland Roots SC right behind with 21 also). Phoenix is at 17. 

Nos. 5 through 8 in the standings 鈥� Sacramento Republic FC, Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, El Paso Locomotive FC and FC Tulsa 鈥� all have 19. Lexington is right behind them with 18.

Orange County is first with 28 points. San Antonio FC is second with 25.

Eight clubs from the Western Conference make the playoffs, meaning there isn鈥檛 a whole lot of wiggle room should one of the clubs listed above go on a notable skid. Every point certainly matters, especially from here on out. 

3. DO RANKINGS MATTER? A good question. It just depends on who you are.

The USL Championship does and in the most recent edition that came out Monday, United rose four spots to No. 3 behind the Eastern Conference鈥檚 Charleston Battery and Tampa Bay Rowdies. Lexington, meanwhile, fell six spots to the 10th position.

New Mexico, of course, is on an eight-match unbeaten streak across all competitions 鈥� the regular season, USL Cup and international friendlies. 

During that stretch, the club has posted five shoutouts and allowed just one goal each to Orange County and Oakland.

Liga MX鈥檚 Atlante FC was the outlier with three scores (against a mix of starters and backups).

United also scored multiple goals four times; something it had done five times in its first 12 matches.

Lexington is coming off a 4-2 loss to Louisville City FC in its final group stage game of the USL Cup. The club had been on a run of five straight matches without a loss.

4. NOT A LOT TO GO ON: There really isn鈥檛 much in terms of trends or history.

United and Lexington have only met twice before 鈥� last season after the Kentucky-based club made the move from USL League One to the USL Championship. 

Lexington won the first matchup 2-1 behind a pair of second-half goals courtesy of current United midfielder Sofiane Djeffal and Xavier Zengue. 

New Mexico returned the favor with a 2-1 victory in the second match 鈥� which also included a four-hour weather delay 鈥� behind first-half goals from Marlon Vargas and Talen Maples. 

Key matchup

United midfielder Zico Bailey vs. Lexington midfielder Aaron Malloy

Why Bailey? It鈥檚 hard not to choose the player who had a chance to up his scoring streak to three straight matches. The midfielder scored against Oakland Roots SC and at El Paso. Malloy paces Lexington with four regular-season goals. He also chips in defensively and is tied for the club lead with 20 interceptions.

Player of the match

United forward Justin Rennicks

Rennicks鈥� status for the match is unknown. The forward was scheduled to start against El Paso, but was pulled in favor of Luther Archim猫de. Afterward, manager Dennis Sanchez said the change was for a precautionary reason and said Rennicks鈥� availability going forward was to be determined.

By the numbers

1-2-2: United鈥檚 record in this season. Lexington will be the first of the bunch on the road.

18: 尝别虫颈苍驳迟辞苍鈥檚 . That鈥檚 tied for sixth in the league. New Mexico is tied for 20th at 13%.

4: Lexington is coming off allowing a season-high four goals in its loss to Louisville. The club鈥檚 previous high was three.

7/14/26: Defender . He turned the ripe old age of 26.

David Glovach covers New Mexico United and other sports for the Journal. Reach him at dglovach@abqjournal.com or via X .