Nov. 16, 2009
TICKETS: $6 adults, $3 youth, $3 students with ID.
WHERE: Lobo Ticket Office, UNM Bookstore, UNMtickets.com, or 505-925-5858.
PARKING: $5, (free to cars with 4 or more passengers)
Lobo Men’s Soccer
Thursday: Portland at Lobos, 7 p.m. UNM Soccer Complex
What: First Round – NCAA Tournament
Online: GameTracker, live video, game story on GoLobos.com
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
An old wound finally has been healed, finally has been forgotten. Jeremy Fishbein’s University of New Mexico Lobos powered their way into the NCAA Tournament and a hurt that hovered in the fringes of this talented team’s prideful consciousness was swept into the past.
The Lobos rode their respect as a program, their undeniable talent, and their strong RPI ranking into a first-round NCAA battle at 7 p.m. Thursday at the UNM Soccer Complex. The Lobos intended victim is Portland, a team that lost to the Lobos in Albuquerque in 2004 NCAA play.
“I know our seniors have been looking to host a game for four years,” said UNM senior Justin Davis. “And we finally get a chance to do it.”
The home advantage is huge for New Mexico because of the way the Lobos defend their turf and honor their fans. The Lobos are 31-2-1 at home in league play under Fishbein and 59-9-5 overall in his eight seasons. You really don’t want to play these fiery Lobos in Albuquerque and a home game in NCAA play is a plus for UNM.
“It’s a big advantage for us,” said Fishbein. “This time of the year, this is a tough place to play. A big plus for us will be getting the people of Albuquerque to come out and support us. It’s going to be an action-packed game. That I can promise you.”
The home-grass advantage is gravy for the Lobos. However, there is no question that the huge dividend of this season is Lobos avenging their NCAA snub of 2008 and returning to the place these Lobos and this program believe to be their ordained conclusion to any and all regular seasons – the NCAA playoffs.
“We missed the postseason last year and that is driving us,” said Lobo Simon Ejdemyr, a few weeks ago. “We aren’t supposed to reflect on that, but we remember and it still hurts. It really won’t be forgotten until we get back to the NCAAs.”
The NCAA miss of 2008 was something you couldn’t get Fishbein to talk about. The intense Lobo coach prefers to shrug off the past and direct focus and energy on the present and the future. “You try not to focus on the past,” he said.
But Fish’s players were very conscious of a wound that needed to be stitched and healed and turned into an old memory. Of course, as Ejdemyr said, there was only one way to complete that healing – return to the NCAA playoffs.
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The Lobos powered their way into the NCAA Tournament and a hurt that hovered in the fringes of this talented team’s prideful consciousness was swept into the past. |
Mission accomplished. The Lobos gathered Monday at the Coaches Grill to view the NCAA Selection Show and to finalize a formality that still had a bubble quality to it.
The Lobos lost in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship game to Sacramento State and lost the league’s automatic bid that goes to the champ. Again, they perched, and waited, on that proverbial NCAA bubble waiting for an at-large bid.
UNM’s RPI appeared to be strong enough to sweep the Lobos off the bubble and into the bracket, but the Lobos were good enough to go in 2008, when their name wasn’t called.
On Monday, when the bracket flashed with New Mexico playing Portland, the players erupted as if a Lobo had just scored an overtime goal for a win.
“You are nervous until your name is called,” said Fishbein. “This is a great team and I wanted us to have a shot to see what we’re all about in the postseason.
“It’s what we’ve been working for this year. It (NCAAs) was the expectation.”
The gutsy schedule Fishbein placed in front of his 2009 Lobos is one reason the Lobos made the elite invite list this November. But the Lobos also had to make it happen on the field and did so with a number of big wins, and number of close defeats to quality teams.
UNM beat Cal-Berkeley at Stanford, won 3-0 at Saint Louis, and won 2-1 (OT) at Notre Dame. The Lobos lost to ranked San Francisco and ranked Indiana by a single goal.
Still, the Lobos finished second in the MPSF regular-season race and probably needed to reach the title game in order to lock up that NCAA at-large bid. UNM defeated Denver in the semifinals and lost to Sacramento State in penalty kicks (5-4) in the championship game.”I don’t think we were on the bubble that much,” said Fishbein, reflecting on his team’s strong RPI ranking. “But you never know until you are called.”
The 12-6-1 Lobos advance to postseason play for the seventh time in nine years. UNM played in the 2005 title game, finishing as national runners-up to Maryland.
The first four rounds of the NCAA Tourney will be held at campus sites from Nov. 19 through Dec. 6. The semifinals and championship will be held Dec. 11-13 in Cary, N.C.
The field is a tough one. The cruel way soccer sometimes has of dividing winners from losers makes this tourney a huge challenge for the Lobos and any team. But, right now, that doesn’t matter much.
What is important is the Lobos have returned to their rightful place in the playoffs. They have been presented with a quality opponent and a chance to replace old wounds with new memories.
“Our guys are confident, happy to be at home and they expect to win,” said Fishbein.