Nov. 13, 2009
Lobo Men’s Soccer — at MPSF Tournament — Denver
Tonight: Lobos vs. Denver, 7:30 p.m.; Sacramento State vs. UNLV, 5 p.m.
Thursday: Denver 2 (3-1 shootout), Air Force 2; UNLV 4, San Jose St 2
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Lobo coach Jeremy Fishbein’s vision of the MPSF semis probably didn’t include a battle with Denver on the Pioneer`s home turf, but the length of Denver’s path to the Lobos was just about perfect.
The Pioneers had to battle through two extra periods before downing Air Force 3-1 in a shootout to earn the right to play the No. 2 seed Lobos. This scenario was exactly what Fishbein said he wanted prior to taking his Lobos up to Denver for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tourney.
1. Let his semifinal opponent take a whole lot of bumps and bruises on Thursday and hopefully enter the semis a bit leg weary.
2. Let his Lobos rest their legs and bodies in the warmth of a hotel room. Thursday’s results were like ordering room service: Fish got exactly what he wanted.
“It’s always good to be fresh and rested going into a big match,” said Fishbein of his Lobos’ 7:30 p.m. battle tonight with Denver. The Lobos edged the Pioneers 2-1 in the teams’ only other meeting this season on Oct. 25.
“In chess, momentum might be good. But when you have to run around for 90 minutes, get kicked and knocked and it’s cold. I’d rather be sitting in the hotel room.”
Actually, the Pioneers had to get kicked and knocked around in the chilly, mile-high air for 110 minutes since they let a 2-0 halftime lead turn into a 2-2 tie that forced them into two scoreless overtime periods with Air Force. The Pioneers’ game ended at 9:40 p.m. on Thursday. The home field advantage probably won’t be much of a factor in the stands. Denver’s game attracted 287 cold bodies.
UNLV beat San Jose State, 4-2, in the other MSPF quarterfinal battle and UNLV will play No. 1 seed Sacramento State at 5 p.m. today (Friday).
Denver junior goalkeeper, Joe Willis, made three saves during the shootout and all three Denver shooters scored. Air Force scored twice in the final 15 minutes of regulation to tie the Pioneers and send the game into overtime. After two scoreless periods, the game headed into a shootout.
“I thought we were flat for 45 minutes in the second half and let Air Force back into it,” said Denver coach Bobby Muuss. “We wanted to play (on Friday) and we reached our goal. It doesn’t matter how that happens.”
The Lobos’ have a goal at the MPSF tourney too. That’s to use the tourney to return to the NCAA postseason, which UNM missed last year. “We want that so badly,” said UNM’s Simon Ejdemyr. “I definitely want to play in the NCAA tournament in my senior year and that’s always the expectation with this program.”
The sure shot to the NCAAs for UNM, or any of the other three semifinalists, is to win Sunday’s championship game and grab the automatic bid that goes to the MPSF champ. Any other finish would leave the Lobos’ perched on that delicate NCAA bubble waiting on the decision of an NCAA Selection Committee.
However, even a runner-up spot would make the Lobos a strong candidate for at at-large bid based on their RPI rating.
“It doesn’t do us any good to speculate (on NCAA),” said Fishbein. “Our focus right now is taking care of business on Friday and getting the opportunity to play for the championships. We haven’t give the other stuff (at-large bids) much thought.
“We know how good we can be, if we do the little things right. I feel confident about this group. Our seniors have stepped up and the whole team right now is in great form. The guys are playing real well. They are confident and healthy. We’re excited to get on the field.
“The important thing right now is to focus on us and be relaxed, do the little things right. It’s a huge advantage being fresh (for the semis).”
Denver closed its regular season with a 2-0 win over Air Force and the Pioneers might have been a little overconfident after jumping to a 2-0 lead over the Falcons’ in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Denver is now 6-9-3 overall.
The Lobos definitely know one Pioneer to watch in tonight’s semis. Alex Tarnoczi found the net Thursday night against Air Force and he paced Denver with six goals and three assists during the regular season. Jesse Henderson had Denver’s other score against Air Force. Pioneer Jarod Stigall had five goals and two assists during the year and Collin Audley had four goals and three assists.
The Lobos closed out the regular season with a win this past Saturday night over UNLV. That win allowed UNM to enter the MPSF tourney with the No. 2 seed and grab one of the two first-round bye spots. The Lobos are 11-6-0 overall.
Sacramento State completed an unbeaten conference regular season with a 4-3 victory over San Jose State on Saturday. The Hornets finish the regular season with a 6-0-1 record in the MPSF and an overall record of 10-5-2. Max Alvarez leads all Sac State scorers with nine goals and two assists for 20 points. Ernesto Carranza has posted 17 points on six goals and five assists, while David Norton has four goals and one assist for nine points.
The UNLV win over San Jose State on Thursday pushed the Rebs’ record to 8-6-4 overall. UNLV ended the regular season with that 2-0 loss at UNM.