April 6, 2011
Albuquerque, N.M. — The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team improved to 3-1-1 in their spring exhibition season with a pair of home victories on the same day, knocking out Ft. Lewis 3-2 in the opener, and then turning around a few hours later to whitewash CSU-Pueblo 5-0.
The Lobos nipped Ft. Lewis 3-2 in the first game of the day on Sunday, a game in which UNM missed several opportunities to widen that final margin. Michael Green opened the scoring with a 25-yard blast in the 12th minute before Blake Smith made it 2-0 with a supreme individual effort. Smith beat a pair of defenders in the box off the dribble and slotted one home past the Skyhawk keeper, and it looked like a possible rout was on.
Ft. Lewis has other plans though, as they made the most of what few chances they got. They made it 2-1, beating Justin Holmes from 25 yards out with 10 minutes left in the first half, and the game stayed that was until Javier Gomez scored for the Lobos off a rebound with 25 minutes left to make it 3-1.
Ft. Lewis answered again, this time against Victor Rodriguez, giving them two goals on two shots. However, the Lobos held fast from there for the win. The Lobos left the Skyhawks in the game by missing a penalty kick and two breakaways.
“It was a good game, but we needed to put it out of reach when we had the chance,” said head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “We missed some prime chances and let Ft. Lewis stay in the game. We got on them early and then it looked like we took our foot off the gear and let them in.”
One thing that definitely please Fishbein was the offensive production that saw all the chances created. “We had good pressure on them most of the game, and they only had two good scoring chances, and the scored on them. It was a well played game both ways.”
In the nightcap, that offensive pressure continued in a 5-0 victory over another strong Division II team in CSU-Pueblo. For New Mexico Carson Baldinger scored a pair of goals, and Devon Sandoval, Lawrence Robledo and Giovanni Rollie all added tallies as well. Rookie redshirt keepers Patrick Poblete and Javier Lane split a clean sheet right down the middle.
“Against CSUP we played really well. It was a confidence builder in that we finished well, and it sets us up for the next four weekends against great competition. I’m excited for the home stretch,” said Fishbein.
New Mexico now hits the road this weekend to take on Creighton in Denver. Creighton knocked the Lobos out of the 2010 NCAA College Cup 4-1 in November.