Nov. 15, 2009
DENVER, Colo.–The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team fell to Sacramento State on penalty kicks this afternoon in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament Championship Game. New Mexico outshot Sacramento State considerably, posting 21 shots to the Hornets’ 15, but the Lobos weren’t able to net a third goal. The score remained tied 2-2 after two overtime periods. Sacramento State advanced on PK’s by a mark of 5-4 to take the MPSF Tournament title and the automatic NCAA bid it affords.
The Lobos are now 12-6-1 on the year, and finish in second place in the MPSF with a mark of 5-2. The team now awaits the decision from the NCAA Men’s Soccer Selection Committee to see if they will advance to their seventh NCAA Tournament in the last nine years.
New Mexico battled through snowy, wet conditions for the second time this weekend in Denver, Colo. Crews had to clear Pioneer Field of accumulated snow to make the conditions playable for this afternoon’s game, which was delayed by thirty minutes due to the weather.
The Lobos came out firing early on. Brown took the feed from Euan Holden to net a header past Hornet keeper Bryan Oliver at 24:50, and the Lobos went into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead. Coming into the game, New Mexico was 8-1-0 on the season when scoring first, and had posted a perfect 5-0 mark when leading at the half.
Sacramento State’s Scott Crandall evened the match at 1-1 in the 57th minute, but the Lobos struck again just over ten minutes later to take 2-1 lead. Michael Reed took a free kick and Davis found the back of the back of the net on a header at 68:41. The Hornets countered with less than eight minutes remaining, however, as Matt Linenberger took an assist from Ernesto Carranza to knot everything up at 2-2 and send the game into overtime. After two scoreless ten-minute overtime periods, the game was decided on penalty kicks.
Despite the loss, the Lobos have built a very strong resume for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, having beaten some of the top teams in the nation this season. The team will now watch the NCAA Men’s Soccer Selection show at 3:30 p.m. MT on ESPNNews on Monday, Nov. 16 to find out if they have made the Tournament. The Lobos will gather at Coaches Sports Bar on 1414 Central Ave. in Albuquerque to watch the selection show on Monday at 3 p.m.
Please visit GoLobos.com for more information.