Aug. 31, 2008
Final Stats
The 19th-ranked University of New Mexico men’s soccer team survived a scare today against a strong San Diego squad in the Loyola Marymount Fall Classic in Los Angeles, Calif. Junior Stephen Brown scored two minutes into overtime to give the Lobos a 2-1 win. New Mexico improves to 1-0-1 on the young season while San Diego falls to 0-1-1.
“It was a good win for us today,” stated head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “It was a character win. We played really well and just had a hard time finding the back of the net until late in the game. Our guys stuck with it and we got the result we were looking for. That was a good team we beat today.”
The Lobos pride themselves on coming out ready to play for each game. Their defense always sets the tone and rarely do they allow an early goal. However, UNM fell behind just five minutes into today’s contest. Junior midfielder Justin Davis took the ball from USD on his half of the field. He tried to dribble out of traffic, but turned the ball back over. UNM was still in position with senior back Mike Porter there to stop any counter attack. However, Porter slipped on the field and left the goal wide open for J.T. Howlan to put the Toreros up 1-0.
That was the only defensive misstep for UNM on the day. The Lobos would not allow another shot on-goal for the rest of the match and the score remained 1-0 at intermission. As good as Fishbein’s teams have been at holding a lead – 76-3-8 when scoring first and 48-1-3 when leading at the half – the Lobos have only had two second-half comebacks in his six-plus years at UNM.
Junior Stephen Brown had the game-winner in overtime today. |
USD maintained its advantage through halftime and into what would be an action-packed second half. UNM held most of the possession and pushed forward, only to be denied on multiple occasions. USD was forced to change its goalkeeper in the 59th minute when starter Kelin Briones had to lead the game after a collision in the area. He was replaced by Tommy McClain, who was immediately called into action, only to see Lobo freshman Gal Yaar’s mis-hit cross carom back off the post.
New Mexico looked like they were headed for another tough loss until Fishbein made some changes in his lineup to add more attacking players. With center-backs Simon Ejdemyr and Zach Tierney controlling the defensive side of the field, the Lobos could afford to add more offensive players on the backline. Fishbein dropped Ryan Farquharson and Davis back where they could make runs from the outside and keep more of his deep and talented midfielders in the game. That shift paid off less than five minutes later when Farquharson made a run down the right side. He sent in a perfect cross that 6-5 senior forward Chris Wright headed into the back of the net to even the score at 1-1.
UNM was not able to get the go-ahead goal in regulation, sending them into overtime for the second time in two games this season. New Mexico has played in 34 overtime matches in Fishbein’s career, and has only lost two of those. His move of adding Davis and Farquharson would again payoff in the 92nd minute. Farquharson played a long-ball forward that Brown chased down. McClain came off his line and tried to cut off Brown. Brown chipped the ball over McClain’s head for the game-winning score.
“We were a lot tougher in today’s game than Friday,” stated Fishbein. The Lobos opened the season with a 1-1 tie against Loyola Marymount. “I think Friday we were too worried about being pretty and today we were more worried about winning. It takes talent to win in college soccer, but it also takes a lot of hard work and grit and we showed that today.”
USD was coming off a 1-1 tie against No. 6 Saint Louis on Friday night. LMU and Saint Louis also played to a 2-2 tie in their match today to end the LMU Fall Classic.
The Lobos now set their sights on Michigan State in the home opener on Friday, Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m. (M.D.T.) at the UNM Soccer Complex in the TLC Plumbing and Utilities Invitational. It will be a busy night of soccer for the Lobos who welcome No. 21 Louisville against No. 30 UC Davis in the neutral match at 2:30 p.m. The Lobo women face Drake in the second match of the evening at 5:30 p.m. All games will be available on GameTracker and All Access on GoLobos.com. Ticket information, including the Olympic Sports Pass, is available here.
LMU Fall Classic All-Tournament Team
New Mexico – Chris Wright (MVP), Zach Tierney, Simon Ejdemyr, Jack Smithson
LMU – Rafael Baca, Logan McDaniel, Roger Downes
Saint Louis – Rob Viviano, Tim Ream, Brandon Barklage, Alex Johnston
San Diego – Kelin Briones, Ryan Peterman