Nov. 4, 2010
Match Notes: New Mexico at UNLV 
By Chelsea Einerwold, Writer/GoLobos.com
The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team plays its final regular season match at 2 p.m. MT on Saturday at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The Lobos will look to secure the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference win by maintaining their dominant defense and capitalizing on scoring opportunities.New Mexico and UNLV are tied for second place in the Mountain Division.
The Lobos are coming off two double-overtime road matches which resulted in 0-0 ties at Sacramento State on Oct. 29 and San Jose State on Oct. 31. New Mexico is on a streak of six straight shutouts, and on a three game scoring drought. The last three matches have resulted in 0-0 double-overtime ties, setting an NCAA record.
With the tie at Sacramento, the Lobos secured a spot in the MPSF tournament, but missed out on their chance to move into first place in the Mountain Divison. Saturday’s game against UNLV is a chance for the Lobos to tie for the No. 1 spot in the Mountain Division. If New Mexico tops the Rebels, and Air Force defeats Denver, the Lobos and Falcons would share the top division spot. However, if Denver beats Air Force, the Mountain Division title belongs to the Pioneers.
The Lobos lead the MPSF conference in shots-per-game average, firing 16.94 a contest. But they are sixth in goals-per-game, netting an average of 1.06 a match. Head coach Jeremy Fisbein says the Lobos are frustrated, but not desperate.
“When you feel you’re an excellent team and you’re not getting results you want, you get frustrated,” he said. “I’ve been trying to focus on the positives and there’s a ton of positives. We’re doing a lot of things right. We’re getting chances, but other teams are defending shots with their feet, their neck, the back of their head–and we’re not finishing. My belief is that we are going to score goals, we’re going to win our conference tournament and we’re going to go to the NCAA tournament. It does me no good to think anything else.”
And then there’s the positive of the solid Lobo defense.
“The thing in soccer that you have control over, as in any sport, is your ability to defend and prevent opponents from scoring,” Fishbein said. “We’ve done a wonderful job of that. Over the last six games, nobody has scored on us.”
New Mexico’s Justin Holmes has been fierce in goal. The sophomore’s performances at Sacramento State and San Jose State earned him his second MPSF Player of the Week honors this season. Holmes had 16 saves on the weekend, and hasn’t allowed a passed ball in a school record 614 minutes.
As a team, New Mexico is first in the MPSF for goals-against-average at .70 and second in shutouts, with eight.
“We have one regular season game remaining at UNLV,” said Lobo head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “We want to play well.”
UNLV (9-6-2 overall, 3-4-2 MPSF) is coming off a 1-0-1 weekend in which they won at San Jose State 2-1 in double-overtime on Oct. 29 and tied 1-1 at Sacramento State on Oct. 31.
The Lobos hosted the Rebels on Oct. 1 to open conference play with that match ending in a New Mexico victory, 2-1 in double overtime.
UNLV is led by midfielder Stephen Sifuentes. The senior is third in the MPSF in shots-per-game, doling out 3.13 a contest, and fourth in goals, with six.In goal for the Rebels is Simon Cook. The junior is tenth in the league with 3.38 saves-per-game, and owns a 1.23 goals-against-average.
Even though the Lobos aren’t sitting where they had hoped they would be at this point in the season, Fishbein is confident heading in to the match with UNLV and feels New Mexico will prove itself at the conference tournament in Sacramento, Calif., next week.
“It doesn’t do us any good to look back when we’ve got things to look forward to,” he said. “We can learn from things that we’ve done–the mistakes as well as the things we’ve done well. We have everything ahead of us. It may not be as easy of a path as we would’ve liked, but this team is good enough that once we get to the conference tournament, we’re going to take it one game at a time and we fully expect to win it. I feel we will be the most talented team there.”