Albuquerque, N.M. University of New Mexico mens soccer player Junro Narita became the third All-American in team history by being named to the 2002 CollegeSoccerNews.com honorable mention All-American team. The senior co-captain from Beppu, Japan led the Lobos to their most successful season in school history with an 18-4-0 record. UNM also won its second straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament title, shared the regular season title with a 5-1-0 conference record, and advanced to its second straight NCAA Tournament second round appearance. He joins Edmundo Rodriquez (’92) and Michael Strati (’94) as the only Lobos to earn an All-American honor.
Narita finished the season with five goals and a team-leading eight assists. His eight assists were also second in the MPSF. Three of Naritas five goals were game-winners that came against Northern Illinois (8/30), Southwest Missouri State (9/22) and Air Force (9/25). Narita also leaves UNM with two NCAA Tournament goals, which is tops in the history of the Lobo program. For his career, Narita finished with 12 goals and eight assists in two seasons of play. He also earned a laundry list of awards for his play in the 2002 season which are listed below.
2002 Senior Co-Captain2002 TLC Plumbing & Utility Invitational All-Tournament Team2002 Lobo Invitational All-Tournament Team2002 All-MPSF 1st Team2002 MPSF All-Tournament Team2002 All-Midwest Region 1st Team2002 CollegeSoccerNews.com Honorable Mention All-American y