Oct. 10, 2004
The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team defeated Sacramento State, 3-0, this afternoon at the UNM Soccer Complex to improve to 9-0-0 and the best start in school history. The Lobos are now 3-0-0 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play and sit in first place in the conference. New Mexico got a pair of goals from Senior Jeff Krause and another from junior Jeff Rowland in the win over the Hornets (2-7-1, 1-3-0 MPSF). UNM also set a new program-high with its fifth consecutive shutout.
New Mexico has been notoriously slow to start on Sunday afternoon matches this season. Today, however, the Lobos set the tone early, attacking Sacramento State’s defense from the opening minute. In the sixth minute of play, junior Ricky Francis collected an errant attempt at a clearing shot by a Hornet defender along the far sideline. He sent in a cross from the right side and Krause one-touched the ball past Sacramento State keeper Matt McDougal for a 1-0 lead. It was the first assist of the year for Francis and the first goal for Krause in a Lobo uniform.
“It was exciting,” stated Krause, a native of Littleton, Colo., who transferred to UNM from Pittsburgh last season. “It was good to finally get one. I’ve had a lot of chances in the past, but it was good to get that first one out of the way.”
Jeff Rowland and Hans Bevers hooked up again against the Hornets. |
The Lobos stuck again in the 21st minute when senior Hans Bevers sent in a cross from the left side. Rowland’s header from 10 yards out in the middle of the box found the back of the net for the 2-0 lead. It was Rowland’s MPSF leading 11th goal of the season and Bevers’ MPSF leading sixth assist. New Mexico did not give up a shot-on-goal in the opening half and went into the locker room with a 2-0 advantage.
UNM finished off the scoring early in the second half when Rowland sent in a cross from the left side in the 50th minute. Freshman Blake Danaher fired a point-blank shot off a Hornet defender and Krause tapped in the rebound for his second goal of the game. It was Danaher’s third assist of the season.
The Lobos played the rest of the game with most of their reserves controlling play. Freshman keeper Mike Graczyk saw the first action of his career, taking over for senior Andrew Weber for the final 25 minutes of the match. Weber extended his school-record scoreless streak to 434:01 minutes. Graczyk made a pair of tough saves late in the game to preserve UNM’s sixth shutout of the season.
“We came out and played well, but as a coach you always want your goal to be to play well for 90 minutes,” stated UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “I think we’re getting too comfortable in some of these games. I am not going to say I am ecstatic about our play, but we had some great moments. Krause was real opportunistic for us and found himself in the right place at the right time. He was huge for us today.”
2,347 fans saw Andrew Weber and the rest of the Lobos shutout Sacramento State, 3-0. |
The final stats show that the Lobos dominated play, leading Sacramento State in shots (23-13) and shots-on-goal (6-2). The Hornets did have the advantage in corner kicks (5-3), but never really threatened the Lobo defense.
New Mexico will now hit the road for a four game swing that begins on Thursday, October 14, at Air Force (6-3-1, 2-1-0 MPSF) at 4:30 p.m. (M.D.T.). UNM returns home on Thursday, October 28, to face Denver (5-3-1, 2-1-0 MPSF) at 7:00 p.m. at the UNM Soccer Complex.