Nov. 17, 2003
Box Score
The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team ended its season today with a 3-2 loss to San Jose State in the finals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s soccer tournament. The Lobos could not overcome a two-goal deficit in the second half after giving up a 1-0 lead. UNM finished their season with an 8-9-3 record while San Jose State moves on to represent the MPSF in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament next weekend.
The Lobos came out of the gates controlling the game and the tempo with coordinated attacks against the Spartan defense. Sophomore defender Brandon Moss took a feed down the right side in the 13th minute and was able to fire a cross from the endline that San Jose State deflected out of bounds. The ensuing corner-kick by senior Stian Eriksen was headed back into the box by junior Jeff Krause. From there, sophomore Jeff Rowland got a foot on the ball and beat Spartan keeper Tyler Tratten for the 1-0 lead.
The Lobos controlled most of the opening half, but were only able to get the one score. The second half saw a complete change in momentum for both teams. The Lobos lost the upper hand when Spartan Tim McKinney found Randy Poggio in front of the net for the score in the 50th minute. With the score even at 1-1, San Jose State kept coming at UNM. McKinney scored in the 71st minute while Johnny Gonzales put the Spartans up 3-1 just four minutes later.
Shortly after that things got ugly. A mix up between players at midfield sparked a bench-clearing scuffle between both teams. When the dust settled, three Lobos were ejected along with two Spartan players.
With eight minutes left to play, the Lobos tried to mount a comeback with eight players going against nine. In the 88th minute, sophomore Matt Wootton took a free-kick from 30 yards out that found junior Pat Grange. Grange put home the pass for his third goal of the tournament and pulled the Lobos to 3-2. UNM tried to complete the comeback but was not able to get the game-tying goal.
Three Lobos were given all-tournament honors including Moss, Krause and Grange. New Mexico’s appearance in the championship game was a huge turnaround from just three weeks earlier when their record stood at 3-8-3 and 0-2-0 in the MPSF. From that point the Lobos won five of their last six and came within a goal of their third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The future is very bright for Lobo men’s soccer, considering they lose just one senior in Eriksen. Eriksen was a quality athlete during his tenure at UNM. The Asker, Norway native competed in three NCAA Alpine championships for the ski team, on top of being a key member of the Lobo men’s soccer team. He leaves UNM tied for 10th in career assists (10), 10th in career minutes played (5,525), eighth in games started (63), and fifth in shots (127). He was also a two-time Academic All-MPSF member and a 2003 2nd Team All-MPSF honoree.