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Albuquerque, N.M. – The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team used its best offensive performance in over two years to shoot down Air Force, 5-1, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action tonight. The Lobos scored five goals for the first time since a 5-1 win over Cal Poly on September 19, 1999, and defeated Air Force for the first time since the 1995 season. The Lobos (12-2-0, 2-0-0 MPSF) got goals from five different players on the way to their seventh straight win at the UNM Soccer Complex.
Even though UNM still has one more home game left, senior night was celebrated for Junro Narita and Javier Carrasco tonight. Both players were freshmen in high school the last time New Mexico defeated Air Force and both players wanted to end UNM’s seven-game losing streak to Air Force during their careers. It didn’t take long for the senior co-captains to excite the crowd and ignite the Lobo offense. In just the fifth minute, Narita sent a cross from the right side to Carrasco who one-timed it past Falcon keeper Mike Taylor for the, 1-0, lead.
“Junro had a lane and could have taken the shot, but he fed a perfect pass to me that I just put in,” stated Carrasco. “That score relaxed us and allowed the younger guys to come through, just like they have all year. This was a huge win for us and I am happy to finally get one against Air Force.”
Actually, it was Narita who struck next, with a score off a direct kick from just outside the box in the 39th minute. Just before halftime, UNM tacked on another goal when Narita fed sophomore Eric Carlson for a shot from the right side. Taylor was able to stop Carlson’s shot, but freshman Jeff Rowland was there to put in the rebound for his first score as a Lobo.
In the second half, New Mexico continued to mount an impressive offense. In the 60th minute, freshman Sam Suflita got a shot off that was stopped by the Air Force defense, but the Falcons couldn’t clear the ball and Carlson put in the rebound. Freshman Ryan McVay finished off the Lobo scoring with an unassisted goal in the 63rd minute for his first strike of the season.
After McVay’s score, head coach Jeremy Fishbein pulled Lobo keeper Andrew Weber to give his back-up, Josef Bachmeier, some action between the pipes. After only playing five minutes, Bachmeier was involved in an exchange with a Falcon player inside the box that left him with a pulled thigh muscle. Bachmeier tried to gut it out but was too injured to stay in the game. This forced Fishbein to send Weber back in after 10 minutes of cooling down on the bench. The Falcons took advantage as Daniel Wasson fired in his fifth goal of the season moments after Weber checked back into the game. Air Force put up a fight in the second half, firing 15 shots in the period, but the Lobos defense wasn’t going to let this one go.
New Mexico finishes out their regular season home schedule with a 1:00 p.m. (M.S.T.) match on Sunday, October 22 at the UNM Soccer Complex against MPSF foe, Denver (6-9-0, 0-2-0 MPSF). Air Force (7-7-1, 1-2-0 MPSF) next faces UNLV (8-5-0, 1-0-0 MPSF) on Sunday in Las Vegas, Nev. After the match against Denver, the Lobos hit the road for their final three regular season conference games. As long as UNM is one of the top six of seven teams in the MPSF they will return to the UNM Soccer Complex on November 14-17 for the MPSF Men’s Soccer Championships.
|Score by Period|1st|2nd|OT|OT|Total| |AFA|0|1|-|-|1| |New Mexico|3|2|-|-|5|
Scoring Summary:UNM – 4:15 Javier Carrasco (3), Assist Junro Narita (5)UNM – 38:11 Junro Narita (4), UnassistedUNM – 44:56 Jeff Rowland (1), Assists Junro Narita (6), Eric Carlson (5)UNM – 59:09 Eric Carlson (3), Assist Sam Suflita (1)UNM – 62:08 Ryan McVay (1), UnassistedAFA – 76:06 Daniel Wasson (5), Unassisted
Statistical Summary|Statistic|UNM|AFA| |Overall Shots|15|21| |Shots on Goal|11|7| |Offsides|10|0||Corner Kicks|4|2||Fouls|11|9|0Y(