March 11, 2011
Casa Grande, Ariz. — Fresh off a second straight NCAA College Cup berth, the University of New Mexico Lobo men’s soccer team opened up their 10-game spring schedule with a 1-1 tie against Edmonton FC, a professional team from Canada that is a member of the NASL.
The Lobos used 16 players in the contest, including four redshirt freshmen that saw their first ever action for the Lobos. After a scoreless first half, Edmonton got on the board in the 70th minute, but the Lobos answered right back. Kyle Venter headed home a corner kick from Lawrence Robledo for the equalizer to level the match at 1, where it stayed through completion.
The match was played at the Grande Sports Complex, and New Mexico will face off with the same Edmonton club on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. before travelling and playing Grand Canyon at 7 p.m. later that day.
“Any time you can compete and play well against a professional team it’s a good result,” said head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “We played a number of players who saw their first minutes as a lobo and they showed very well. The staff is very proud of how the team responded to the challenge.”
“Fishbein added, “Our guys respected the fact that they were playing a professional team, but didn’t fear them. The team will continue to grow over the course of the spring season and we expect to improve in each of the nine remaining matches. The game today was a great result for us to build on and we are looking forward to our next two games on Saturday.”