Sept. 29, 2010
The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team will begin Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play at the UNM Soccer Complex on Friday Oct. 1 against the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The game begins at 7 p.m.
The Lobos enter the conference portion of their schedule with a record of 3-2-2, having finished non conference play with a 1-0 loss against Dartmouth last Saturday. It was a “grueling trip,” according to head coach Jeremy Fishbein, one in which the team did not play well. The good news is Friday is a fresh start for the Lobos.
“We played one of the most difficult non conference schedules in the country,” he said. “I thought six of the seven games we played very well. Our challenge will be to get better. We’re looking forward to getting back on the field here at home.”
UNLV enters conference play with a record of 3-5-0 with their last match resulting in a 4-0 loss against No. 12 UC Irvine. The Rebels rely heavily on forwards Stephen Sifuentes and Nick Marshall. Both players have tallied 3 goals apiece on the season. UNLV’s goalkeeper, Simon Cook, owns a 1.64 goals against average and has 18 saves. The Rebels and Lobos have no common opponents so far this season.
“The key thing will be for us to come out strong (against UNLV) and not let them get a grip on the game,” Fishbein said. “It’s going to be about us playing well and confident and not dwelling on the last game.”
In their non conference portion of the season, the Lobos faced five teams that were ranked in the top 25. Even though no MPSF teams are nationally ranked, the competition is sure to be fierce and Fishbein expects each conference opponent to give “their best game” when they play UNM. With that said, he also expects the Lobos to do well.
“We feel we’re a very good team and hopefully we’ll prove that over ten games,” he said.
Unfortunately, the Lobos will be without senior Ryan Farquharson for the remainder of the season. Farquharson broke his leg about five minutes in to the second half in Saturday’s match against Dartmouth. The team captain started all seven games this season and had one goal.
The injury was one of the worst Fishbein has seen in his coaching career.
“It was pretty tough to deal with that for Ryan,” he said. “If there’s one guy on the team who embodies everything you want out of a student-athlete in terms of academics, leadership, work ethic, and ability, he’s the guy.”
The Lobo line up will be shuffled around in attempt to make up for Farquharson’s absence, and the team will look for others to step up as leaders.