Oct. 1, 2010
Lobo Men’s Soccer
Friday: Lobos 2, UNLV 1 (OT)
Up Next: Denver at UNM, Oct. 8.
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
For a glorious moment for all Lobos, the nature of the Lobos’ dramatic 2-1 overtime win Friday night over UNLV suddenly changed.
It was no longer simply a soccer game. It was senior Michael Reed putting on a Harlem Globetrotter-like dribbling exhibition and weaving through Rebel players like they were frozen in time or stuck in mud.
Then he flicked the ball back to Lobo Michael Green who buried the ball in the UNLV net with 23 seconds left in OT.
“I don’t want to say I was impressed with it,” said Green, smiling and referring to Reed’s dribbling act. “He can do that sort of thing. Then he popped the ball back to me and I picked a corner and hit it.”
The game-winner was a combination of many things, but it also was a reflection of teamwork and individual skills. Reed got the ball from Green, threw out some foot magic, and then got the ball back to his teammate.
“I think I blacked out,” Reed said of his foot charge through the heart of the Rebs’ defense. “I didn’t think we had enough guys up, so I decided to see if I could beat a couple of guys.
“I was thinking about taking a shot, but then I saw Green. It worked out.”
It worked out really well. The goal gave UNM a home-grass win at the Lobo Soccer Complex in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener for both teams. UNM is now 4-2-2 on the season and 1-0 in league play. UNLV is 3-6 and 0-1.
“It’s always a good feeling to win in overtime, but you never want to get to that point,” said Green. “It’s good to win at home and in front of our fans. There aren’t too many places that have fans like ours.”
The game definitely turned into a nail biter, but not until UNM let go of a 1-0 lead and let UNLV force a 1-1 tie. “There aren’t too many easy games,” said Lobo coach Jeremy Fishbein. “It’s a big game for a team to come in here and play in this atmosphere.”
It would have been easier on Fish if the game had been as easy as UNM’s first goal. It wasn’t.
The Lobos appeared to be cruising to their first league win behind a 1-0 lead formed by a first-half goal by Patrick Pacheco.Vegas then spoiled things at the 73:18 mark of the second half when Rebel Stephen Sifuentes scored an unassisted goal to force overtime.
“They hit a world-class goal,” said Fishbein. “There was a small defensive mistake, but it was 40 yards, top corner. We went up 1-0 and had control of the game and we left them in it and it became a dogfight.”
Pacheco almost made his goal look too easy. He received a pass on the right side of the UNM attack, in the northeast corner of the complex.
He calmly jogged the ball in toward the UNLV keeper, casually juked past a closing Rebel defender, and a sent a rocket shot past UNLV goalie, Simon Cook.
The Lobos ended the game with 14 shots to Vegas’ 12. UNM had six shots on goal and UNLV had five. The Rebs seemed to play with more aggression and confidence once they tied the contest at 1-1.
“This is the start of a new season for us,” said Reed.
Fishbein is hoping Reed’s drive and assist is the start of something he hopes to see from Reed the rest of the season – points.
“Mike is a special player,” said Fishbein. “With that being said, he has to score goals for us and win games for us.
“He’s had a chance to win games for us and that’s the first one he’s had with a game-winning finish. I think this will be a big boost for him.”
Lobo Notes: The Lobos’ home game on Friday, Oct. 8 vs.Denver is Youth Night. All youth tickets (2-18) are $2 and there will be FREE Lobo cinch sacks to the first 250 fans … Friday’s game with UNLV was UNM’s first without senior Ryan Farquharson, who broke his leg in the second half against Dartmouth. .. In their non conference portion of the season, the Lobos faced five teams ranked in the top 25.