Aug. 18, 2008
2008 Season Outlook | Keepers | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards
Olympic Sports Pass Season Ticket Information
The 19th-ranked University of New Mexico men’s soccer team will host No. 3 Notre Dame in a preseason exhibition match on Wednesday, Aug. 20. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. (M.D.T.) at the UNM Soccer Complex which will broadcast on All-Access on GoLobos.com. Since this is an exhibition match, admission is free for all fans attending. The American Cancer Society is supporting the match and accepting donations at the gate. The American Cancer Society will also be auctioning off men’s soccer items following the match with the Irish.
The Lobos enter the season ranked 19th in the preseason CollegeSoccerNews.com Top-30. UNM holds the highest winning percentage in the nation with a 61-12-11 (.795) record since the start of the 2004 season. New Mexico has also been ranked each week in that stretch, a string of 52 consecutive. UNM has won four straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in six of the last seven seasons. The Lobos return eight starters and 14 letterwinners from last year’s team.
Notre Dame is coming off a Final 8 showing in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. The Fighting Irish went 14-5-5 last season, tying for the Big East Blue Division title with a 7-0-4 mark in league play. UND returns seven starters and 14 lettermen from last year’s squad.
These two teams have played exhibition matches twice in the last three seasons. They tied 1-1 in South Bend, Ind., prior to the start of the 2005 season. Last season, the Irish posted a 3-0 win over New Mexico in Fort Wayne, Ind. They have only met once in the regular season with Notre Dame winning 2-0 on Sept. 1, 2000, in Las Vegas, Nev.
NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH
Location: South Bend, Ind.
Conference: Big East
Head Coach: Bobby Clark (Jordanhill `67)
Record at Notre Dame: 94-38-20 (7)
Career Record: 247-101-45 (21)
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Starters Returning/Lost: 7/4
Lettermen Returning/Lost: 14/6
2007 Record: 14-5-5 (NCAA Final 8)
2007 Conference Record: 7-0-4 (T1st-Blue)
UNM vs. Notre Dame: 0-1-0
Last Time: Notre Dame won 2-0 (9-1-00) at Las Vegas, Nev.
Notes: New Mexico and Notre Dame have twice played exhibition matches since the 2005 season. The two teams tied 1-1 in Aug. 2005 at Notre Dame. The Irish scored a 3-0 win last season in Fort Wayne, Ind. The only time these two teams met in the regular season was a 2-0 win for ND in Las Vegas, Nev., on Sept. 1, 2000. Sophomore James Urbany is from South Bend, Ind.
Web Site: www.UND.com
LOBOS ADVANCED TO NCAA TOURNAMENT FOR SIXTH TIME:
UNM made its sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in school history last season. All of UNM’s postseason bids have come since the 2001 campaign. UNM fell at UCLA 1-0 in the first round, marking UNM’s first opening round exit in six trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Lobos are now 7-4-2 in NCAA Tournament action.
UNM WINS SIXTH LEAGUE TITLE IN PROGRAM HISTORY:
Posting a 7-1-2 mark in MPSF action, the Lobos won their sixth league title in school history in 2007. All of UNM’s league trophies have come since the 2001 season. UNM is 41-7-6 in MPSF action in six seasons under current head coach Jeremy Fishbein.
LOBOS BOAST HIGHEST WINNING % SINCE 2004:
The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team boasts the highest winning percentage in Division I over the last three years. The Lobos are 61-12-11 (.795) since the start of 2004. Only UC Santa Barbara (65-20-9), Maryland (62-18-10) and Wake Forest (67-18-10) have more wins than the Lobos over the last four years. Here is a look at the top teams in the nation based on winning percentage since 2004.
New Mexico – 61-12-10 – .795
Akron – 59-15-10 – .762
Wake Forest – 67-18-10 – .758
Indiana – 60-15-15 – .750
Maryland – 62-18-10 – .744
UCSB – 65-20-9 – .739
SMU – 61-19-10 – .733
Virginia – 59-22-7 – .710
THREE ALL-REGION, FIVE ALL-MPSF AND EIGHT STARTERS RETURN IN 2008:
The Lobos return eight starters and 14 lettermen for the 2008 campaign. Highlighting this list is senior forward Chris Wright, the 2007 MPSF Player of the Year. Wright led the league in scoring with 12 points and four assists. He was also a member of the All-Far West Region second team. Juniors Zach Tierney and Simon Ejdemyr were also on the All-Far West Region team, as well as first team All-MPSF honorees. Senior Jack Smithson and junior Stephen Brown return from the All-MPSF squad while senior Mike Porter, junior Justin Davis and sophomore Ryan Farquharson are all returning starters.
ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN STREAK CONTINUES:
Chris Wright and sophomore Simon Ejdemyr both earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American honors last season. Wright earned a spot on the first team while Ejdemyr was named to the third team. The Lobos have now had at least one representative on the squad each year since 2003. Only Maryland has had at least one student-athlete honored each year during that same stretch.
LOBOS TOUGH AT HOME UNDER FISHBEIN:
The Lobo men’s soccer team has posted a 24-2-1 mark in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action at the UNM Soccer Complex under head coach Jeremy Fishbein. The only two losses at home under Fishbein came against UNLV (2-0 on Oct. 18, 2003) and San Jose State (3-2 (OT) on Oct. 16, 2005). UNM has won 86% of their matches overall in six years under Fishbein at the UNM Soccer Complex, posting a 45-5-5 mark in his tenure.
IN THE RANKINGS:
The Lobos are ranked No. 19 in the preseason CollegeSoccerNews.com Top-30. New Mexico has now been ranked for 52 consecutive weeks, dating back to the start of 2004.
NEW MEXICO IS STRONG WITH A LEAD:
The Lobos are tough to beat when scoring first or leading at the half. In head coach Jeremy Fishbein’s tenure, New Mexico is 75-3-7 when finding the back of the net first and 47-1-2 when holding a halftime lead. The last time UNM surrendered a lead and lost the match was at UNLV on Nov. 3, 2007, in a 2-1 OT loss to the Rebels. The only time the Lobos lost a match when leading at the half was a 3-2 loss to the Spartans in the finals of the 2003 MPSF Tournament Nov. 16, in Sacramento, Calif.
NEW MEXICO NINTH IN THE NCAA IN HOME ATTENDANCE:
UNM averaged 2,080 fans per game at the UNM Soccer Complex in the 2007 season. A total of 18,723 spun the turnstiles in nine home games this season, ranking ninth in average attendance in the NCAA. The Lobos were 6-2-1 in the nine home games in 2007. UNM has ranked in the top-15 in attendance each year since the 2001 season. The Lobos 3,629 average in 2005 is still a single-season NCAA record for average per game in a season.
LOBOS PICKED TO WIN MPSF TITLE…AGAIN:
The coaches around the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation selected UNM as the preseason favorite to win the MPSF in 2008.1. New Mexico2. Denver3T. San Jose State3T. UNLV5. Sacramento State6. Air Force
RECRUITING CLASS RANKED NO. 22:
CollegeSoccerNews.com pegged the 2008 Lobo recruiting class as the 22nd best in the nation. It is the fifth year in a row New Mexico has had its recruiting class in the top-40 by CollegeSoccerNews.com. Highlighted by two NSCAA High School All-Americans, a transfer from NCAA Champ Wake Forest and an additional adidas ESP participant, the Lobos’ 2008 incoming class is loaded with talent. Topping the list of newcomers are midfielder Michael Green and goalkeeper Victor Rodriguez. Both players earned NSCAA High School All-American honors last season. A pair of new faces are already enrolled at UNM and are training with the team this spring. David Murphy has transferred from Wake Forest after helping the Demon Deacons to the 2007 NCAA title. He was a club teammate of Stephen Brown on the Dallas Texans squad that won three consecutive U.S.Y.S.A. national titles. Euan is also transferring to UNM after spending the last two seasons at UConn. Lance Rozeboom is a freshman who began his collegiate career in January after graduating early from Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Gal Yaar joins the Lobos after a successful club season in Israel. Four other high school players will join the Lobo program in the fall, including Travis Campbell, Justin Holmes, Masashi Shibuya and Gary Weisbaum.
2008 SPRING SEASON:
The Lobos played six matches in the 2008 Spring season, posting a 4-1-1 mark.
April 5 – 3-0 win over Air Force (Wright 2, Reed)
April 5 – 2-0 win over Fort Lewis (Wright, Rozeboom)
April 11 – 1-1 tie at Wake Forest (Davis)
April 13 – 1-0 win at Duke (Ejdemyr)
April 18 – 3-1 win at El Paso Patriots (Wilson 2, Tierney)
April 30 – 2-4 loss at Colorado Rapids (Smithson 2)
COMING AND GOING AFTER 2007:
UNM will return eight starters and 14 lettermen to their line-up in 2008. Three starters and seven letterwinners total from 2007 will not be back in 2008. Seniors Mike Graczyk, David Gualdarama and Diego Barrera will be missing from the starting 11 next season while Joey Vitagliano and Blake Danaher are a pair of senior reserves who will not return after exhausting their eligibility. Letterwinners sophomore Bryan Sajjadi and redshirt freshman Gardner Morrow transferred from UNM while sophomore Charles Conway and redshirt Ryan Lytle will also not return in 2008.