Oct. 20, 2010
Lobo Men’s Soccer
Friday: 7 p.m. vs. Seattle — UNM Soccer Complex
Sunday: 1 p.m. vs. Cal State Bakersfield — UNM Soccer Complex
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By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
New Mexico men’s soccer coach Jeremy Fishbein has a mold for his Lobo seniors. It’s not a cast with unyielding edges. It’s not a pattern of inflexibility. Fish makes adjustments for individuality. People are different. Lobos are, too.
But there are core values that Fishbein looks for in his future Lobos. He also has developed a program that attempts to strengthen those values as it shapes a Lobo into a person who does more than simply win soccer games.
“You first try to attract the right kind of player,” said Fishbein, in his ninth season at UNM. “Then we have a plan to develop a complete student-athlete.
“You want to develop strong men, who will perform in the classroom and on the field, but who leave here and become the right kind of citizen, husband, father. Winning is the result of doing a lot of things right and being a winner isn`t just what you do on the field.”
At 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. on Sunday, four Lobo seniors — Michael Reed, David Murphy, Matt Armstrong and James Urbany — will try to win their final home games at the UNM Soccer Complex. Well, unless UNM forges on to host an NCAA Tournament game.
A fifth senior, Ryan Farquharson, will be honored on Senior Day Sunday against Cal State Bakersfield, but Farquharson will not take the field for either game.
His season was lost to injury. Maybe as much as any Lobo senior, the core values that Lobo soccer tries to instill in its players will rally to help Farquharson through hard times on the sidelines.
He sits and watches while his teammates fight to win the Mountain Division of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
“That guy did everything right and wanted everything so badly,” Fishbein said of Farquharson. “It was a heartbreaker to lose him. We lost a lot in every aspect of the game when Ryan went down. He anchored the center of the field for us and he was a leader.
“Your ideal senior is a leader on and off the field, so Ryan can still be a leader for us the rest of the way in. A senior leads by example and earns his teammates respect with work ethic and unselfish play.
“A senior puts the team and his teammates first and Ryan, Michael, David, Matt and James are all examples of the qualities you look for in a senior. My seniors are doing a good job, but there are still some challenges ahead of them. They need to finish.”
Ah, the finish. That brings the Lobos (6-4-2, 3-2-0 MPSF) back to the field and back to the competition. The games this weekend are important to the Lobos` season and even their postseason hopes.
The Lobos are tied with UNLV and Denver in the MPSF loss column with two losses for each program. The Lobos are up a game in the win column and have no ties. UNLV and Denver (both 2-2-1 in MPSF) have one tie each. Air Force is in last place in the Mountain Division at 2-3-0.
The Lobos lead their division with nine points while UNLV and Denver have seven points, and Air Force has six points. It’s a close race — a race separated by seconds as seen in UNM’s winning goal at Air Force, scored with two ticks left in regulation. UNM won at Denver, 1-0, with the winning goal scored with 2:32 left to play.
If the Lobos had lost those games, they would be in last place in the Mountain Division.
The other division in the MPSF is the Pacific Division. Cal-Bakersfield is on top at 3-0-2. Seattle is on the bottom at 1-3-1. Bakersfield needs a win to put a stranglehold on its division. Seattle is struggling to stay alive for the MPSF tournament. The last place team in both divisions will see its season end at the close of regular-season play.
It’s also important to win your division and get a first-round bye. The rest comes in handy, looking at two wins rather than three wins in order to grab the NCAA automatic bid that goes to the tourney champion.
The MPSF tourney is set for Nov. 11-14 in Sacramento, Calif. A couple of home wins would come in handy for the Lobos. They finish their regular season at Sacramento State, at San Jose State and at UNLV.