Lobos Cap Home Stand Wednesday with Big Opponent
No. 24 New Mexico vs. UCLA
Wednesday, Oct. 18 – 7 p.m. (MT)
Albuquerque, N.M. | UNM Soccer Complex (6,200)
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | IN-MATCH UPDATES @UNMLoboMSoccer
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team is set to cap off its three-game home stand on Wednesday night against a talented UCLA squad at the UNM Soccer Complex at 7 p.m. The Lobos are currently riding a four-game win streak and a five-game unbeaten streak that includes a pair of shutouts from senior goalkeeper Jason Beaulieu.
The Lobos are 8-1-1 in their last 10 outings including a perfect 3-0-0 streak in the month of October. In addition, with its most recent victory over UAB on Saturday, UNM is within just three points of the top spot in the C-USA standings.
Series Record vs. UCLA
2-11-0
When UCLA Ranked: 2-10-0
In Overtime: N/A
Last Meeting: The Lobos have only faced UCLA once when the squad was unranked in program history and have never played to a draw. The Last time the Lobos met the Bruins was on Sept. 7, 2014 when UNM fell by just one goal, 1-0 to then-ranked No. 1 UCLA at the UNM Soccer Complex. The Lobos went on to place fifth in the C-USA that season.
Scouting UCLA
The Bruins have a long-standing tradition of having a powerhouse soccer program. The Lobos have faced UCLA 13 times, all but one of which came when the Bruins were nationally ranked. The upcoming contest will be just the second time in the teams’ history that UCLA is not ranked during the meeting. Don’t be fooled, however, the squad started out the 2017 season in the polls and has no shortage of talent despite the young squad. UCLA has just two seniors listed on the roster and six juniors.
The Bruins are led by redshirt-senior Brian Iloski who boasts 11 points on a team-best five goals and one assist. Iloski has also converted three-of-three penalty kick attempts on the season. He is followed by freshman Santiago Herrera who has posted five points on a pair of goals and an assist this season.
Defensively the Bruins have utilzed just one keeper this season. Sophomore Kevin Silva has spent all 1,006 minutes between the post and collected three shutouts. He has accumulated 39 saves and a 1.34 goals against average.
Last Time Out – UNM vs UAB
The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team stretched its win streak to four on Saturday night at the UNM Soccer Complex, claiming a 2-0 shutout over visiting Conference USA foe UAB. The match also extends UNM’s unbeaten streak to five.
An own goal early in the second half gave the Lobos a 1-0 edge before junior Antoine Vial netted an insurance goal in the 74th minute for the eventual 2-0 score.
UNM’s first goal in the 47th minute, officially listed as an “own goal” in the statistics due to the final tap coming off of a UAB defender, developed as a result of an outstanding, calculated play by the Lobos.
Sophomore Aaron Scott passed the ball to junior Aaron Herrera on the right side of the box. Herrera crossed it back to the left where senior Luke Lawrence was waiting to tap it in, but UAB got the hit on it first to give UNM a 1-0 advantage.
In the 74th, junior Simon Spangenberg sent a swift pass up field to Vial on a clear, connecting just past midfield. Vial bolted past the defense and went one-on-one with UAB keeper James Teal. Teal went for the slide tackle to stop Vial, but Vial went around and fired for the 2-0 lead.
With the victory, senior Jason Beulieu collected his third shutout of the season, the 20th of his career and the Lobos moved to within just three points of first place in the Conference USA standings.
Officially Streaking
With their victory over UCLA on Saturday night, the Lobos are now riding a four-game win streak and a five-game unbeaten streak. UNM is also 8-1-1 in its last 10 matches.
Beaulieu – Defensive Player of the Week
Senior Jason Beaulieu earned his fourth career Conference USA Player of the Week honor on Tuesday as he was tabbed Defensive Player of the Week for his performances vs LMU and FAU. He registered his 19th career shutout against LMU Friday before helping lead the Lobos to a 3-1 victory over FAU on Saturday and a 2-0 a week later vs UAB.
Beaulieu remains ranked third in program history in shutouts behind second-place Andrew Weber who posted 25 from 2001-04. The program leader in career shutouts is current UNM associate head coach Mike Graczyk, who racked up 30 from 2004-07.
Not only Beaulieu is ranked in shutouts, he ranks fifth in Lobo history in career wins with 34, fourth in career saves with 207 and tied for third in career appearances with 63.
Undefeated October…
The Lobos finished the month of September 5-1-1 and have translated the September momentum into an undefeated (3-0-0) October. Riding a four-win streak, the Lobos have not lost two straight matches since they fell to No. 11 Washington and Seattle by one-goal margins on the road to kick off the season.
Fourth and Rising
It’s a tight race in the C-USA standings in the heat of the conference season. The top four teams are separated by just three points with FIU leading the way (13), followed by Old Dominion (12) and Kentucky (12). UNM rounds out the top four with 10 points. Last week, the Lobos were still in fourth but were five points back. UNM made up ground this week with back-to-back victories and looks to continue the momentum through the remainder of October.
First is Best
The Lobos are now 6-0-0 when scoring first this season. Under coach Fishbein, UNM is 171-14-21 when scoring first.
Second-Half Explosion
Since the Grange & Ashwill Invitational on Sept. 8, the Lobos have netted all but two goals in the second half of play, scoring 14 of 16 in the second frame following UNM’s most recent outing against UAB. Of those 14 goals, six have been gamewinners and one tied up the match with 1:17 left. Prior to Sept. 8, the Lobos had scored only three of nine goals in the second half.
Speaking of Fish – 300: COMPLETE
In his 25th season as head coach, coach Fishbein reached the 300 milestone with UNM’s victory over LMU on Oct. 4. He clinched the triple-century win and had all the credit to give to his guys. “I’m just glad I get to share it with this group,” – Coach Fishbein
Fishbein surpassed 200 wins at UNM with the Lobos’ 3-0 victory over UNLV at the UNM Soccer Complex on Sept. 1. He is the program’s all-time winningest coach and entered the season ranked 17th in the nation among NCAA DI active head coaches.
Ranked Again
The Lobos are once again back in the top-25 national rankings this week, checking in at No. 24 in the United Soccer Coaches Top-25 Poll. In addition, UNM is still receiving votes in the College Soccer News Top-30 Poll.
Preseason Honors
The reigning C-USA Tournament Champion Lobos were picked to finish second in Conference USA behind Charlotte in 2017. In addition, sophomores Tom Smart and Matthew Constant were named to the C-USA Preseason Team.
As a team, the Lobos have been ranked in the preseason by two organizations. The United Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll notched the Lobos 20th while Top Drawer Soccer ranked UNM 19th.
Junior Aaron Herrera also earned Top Drawer Soccer Best XI Second Team honors heading into the season.
It’s A Hard-Knock Schedule
The Lobos are no stranger to tough competition, but this season UNM will take on eight squads that competed in the NCAA Tournament last season including three C-USA opponents. Those teams include No. 11 Washington, (RV) UNLV, CSUN, No. 13/17 Kentucky, South Carolina, UCLA, Denver and Charlotte.*
*Note: Teams that have already been faced have locked in rankings, other are updated.
A Whole New Offense
After a successful run to the 2016 NCAA postseason, the Lobos lost five key seniors from the squad and a pair of dominating attackers including Niko Hansen and Chris Wehan. Hansen was the No. 9 overall pick in the 2017 MLS Superdraft to the Columbus Crew SC while Wehan has been racking up the accolades as a member of Reno 1868 FC, a USL team. The pair combined for 61.8 percent of the Lobos’ goals last season.
Offensively, the Lobos will need to replace the dynamic duo in the attacking third and have added 13 new players to the 2017 roster in effort to replenish the squad. Of UNM’s 20 points in exhibition matches this season, 10 came from new players. The other 10 came from a trio of returners (Aaron Herrera, Sam Gleadle and Luke Lawrence) and a redshirt freshman (Noah Bushey).
The newcomers that scored included freshman Nick Taylor, who led UNM with two goals, as well as freshman Alex Vedamanikam, junior transfer Antoine Vial and redshirt junior transfer Wedner Delmonte who posted one goal apiece.
Defensively, The Boys Are Back
While the Lobo offense will look very different, the UNM defense returns the majority of an experienced and solid back line that helped lead the Lobos to nine shutouts in 2016.
First, senior Jason Beaulieu returns between the posts. He started all 22 games for UNM in 2016 racking up 2,072 minutes. He posted eight shutouts which ranks seventh in Lobo history for most shutouts in a single season. Last season he also tied for ninth in UNM history in single-season wins (12). For his career, Beaulieu heads into the season ranking tied for third in shutouts with 17, sixth in saves with 163, seventh in wins with 26 and sixth in appearances with 51.
Junior Aaron Herrera will help anchor the back line for UNM after competing with the U-20 World Cup over the summer. He started all 22 games for the Lobos last season totaling 2,050 minutes and registering six points (two goals, two assists). In addition, Herrera was named to the Top Drawer Soccer Best XI Second Team recognizing him as one of the projected top players in the country this season.
Sophomores Tom Smart and Matthew Constant also return to the Lobo defense. The pair both started all season in 2016, Smart earning 22 starts and Constant starting 20 matches, missing two to play with the Canadian U-20 Team. Smart and Constant were also the only two Lobos to earn Conference USA Preseason honors.
Lobo Soccer: A Mile High and Louder Than …
The UNM Soccer Complex is building a reputation as one of the nation’s toughest venues to play in. In addition to being “a mile high and louder than…”, New Mexico has turned Albuquerque into one of the hottest tickets in college soccer. The Lobos have ranked in the top 25 in attendance nationally every season since the NCAA began keeping those statistics in 2001.
International Pride
While the diversity of the team roster is obvious, many Lobos have some serious international credentials. Five have represented their country in top-level international competition: Aaron Herrera (US U20); Matthew Constant (US U17 National team, Canada U20 National team); Billy Jones (captained New Zealand U17 in select World Cup qualifying matches); Aaron Scott (U15, U16, U17 Scottish National Team) and Ingi Jónsson (U17 Icelandic National Team).
Excelling Off the Pitch
Lobo Soccer has a rich tradition of academic success. During the Fishbein era (2002 to present), UNM has had 20 Academic All-Americans – more than any other men’s soccer program in the country among all divisions. In addition, the Lobos have garnered 91 Academic All-Conference honorees and 20 NSCAA Scholar All-Americans under Fishbein’s tutelage. As a team, the Lobos have earned the NSCAA Academic Team Award in 13 of the last 14 seasons.