Sept. 5, 2003
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The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team survived a tough match tonight against Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis in the second game of the TLC Plumbing & Utilities Invitational at the UNM Soccer Complex. Sophomore Lance Watson converted a penalty-kick with 25 seconds left in the match to give the Lobos a 1-0 win. It was Watson’s second game-winning goal of the year and the fifth of his career. New Mexico moves to 2-1-0 while IUPUI falls to 0-3-0.
The Lobos had many scoring opportunities on the evening, keeping the ball on their side of the field for most of the match. UNM out-shot the Jaguars 27-6 and also had eight shots on goal. “We had a lot of good looks,” stated sophomore forward Jeff Rowland who got his first career start tonight. “We should have scored a lot more. I didn’t hit mine hard enough and didn’t get it high enough on the keeper.”
While the offense was firing away at Jaguar goalie Drew Deffner, the Lobo defense was keeping the ball away from the Jaguars. IUPUI was only allowed six shots on the evening and none of those were on-goal. Junior goalkeeper Andrew Weber can thank the Lobo backline of juniors Jeff Krause and Danny Bills, and sophomores Matt Chavez, Matt Wootton, and Brandon Moss for his 13th career shutout. He now is tied for fourth all-time in shutouts at UNM with Dana Rogge (’87).
Late in the game, the home crowd of 1,749 fans were growing restless when Weber collected a ball in the Lobo box. He fired a bomb down the left side of the field to senior Stian Eriksen. Eriksen took the pass and beat his man into the penalty box. He was taken down in the box and the Lobos were awarded a PK with 25 seconds left. Watson stepped up and took the shot, top-right for the win. “Stian did a good job of getting the ball in the box and got the foul,” stated Watson. “I’ve been practicing these everyday. I’ve been working hard on free kicks and PK’s and when it came down to it, it worked out well.”
“I thought we played really well,” said UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “I thought we created a lot of great opportunities and just didn’t put it away. It’s a deserving win in regulation for us, but I feel bad for the other team. It was a pretty one-sided game but we’ve got to finish when given opportunities.”
The Lobos’ next opportunity will come on Sunday, September 7th in the final match of the TLC Plumbing & Utilities Invitational against Cincinnati at 1:00 p.m. (M.D.T.) at the UNM Soccer Complex. The Bearcats (0-2-1) tied No. 15 Cal State Northridge (2-0-1), 1-1, in the opening match earlier in the evening. Cal State Northridge will face IUPUI on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. (M.D.T.) at the UNM Soccer Complex.