May 3, 2011
Catch up on Jeremy Fishbein’s musings at The FishBlog
Lobo Faithful:
Returned from Las Vegas last night after wrapping up a very successful winter/spring campaign. The Lobos played two hard fought matches on Saturday, April 30th, finishing up our 10-match spring season with a record of 5-1-4, with the lone defeat coming from Edmonton FC, a second division professional side. While I’m not happy about the four ties, I think we would have won the majority of these matches had we played overtime. In terms of development and growth, this was possibly the best off-season the Lobo program has ever experienced. I can’t say enough about our boys commitment to EXCELLENCE!
We brought a small squad to Vegas and faced the challenge of two tough matches in one day. This was our final spring date of competition and we felt great about the training and commitment of our players. The young boys have really grown over the past 3 1/2 months: physically, mentally, technically and tactically. We annually put our players through one of the most challenging winter/springs in the country. This is the foundation which our program is built on.
First match of the day was against Cal State Fullerton. A quality team from the Big West. We had a tremendous opening 20 minutes and were rewarded with a goal from Devon Sandoval with the assist from Lawrence Robledo. We created chance after chance and finally found the net. In the 40th minute a long ball bounded into our box and Fullerton picked up a secondary ball and hit a laser from 30 yards to tie the game. Unfortunate, but we should have done better with the clearance and positioning for the second ball. Fullerton’s only chance of the half and an incredible finish. We went up 2-1 in the 65th minute when freshman Carson Baldinger hit a one-time ball at the top of the box off a centering/dropped pass from Levi Rossi. Tremendous poise and quality finish. Baldinger is special in front of the net and is coming back to form after redshirting this fall coming off meniscus surgery. In the 89th minute, Fullerton had a long throw-in find a runner on the far post to tie the game. Our goalkeeper was pinned and we lost our mark. Closing out games has been our challenge. No overtime was played. Disappointing finish to a great performance from our team. Had we finished our numerous chances, the game wouldn’t have been close. As long as we continue to allow lesser teams to stay in matches, anything can happen. Mental focus for 90 minutes is required to be great! This being said, we played everyone with Holmes and Rodriguez splitting time in goal. Great goal from Baldinger. Expect many more from Devon Sandoval and Carson Baldinger!
Second match of the day was vs. UC Irvine. Another very competitive southern California team from the Big West. We came out slow the first 15 minutes with heavy legs, this being our second match of the day. We failed to connect our passes in the early going and chased the ball like chickens. The team was ignited by freshman Michael Kafari at the 15 minute mark, when he put in a bone-crunching tackle, came away with possession and initiated a counter attack. From this moment, we got a hold of the game and in the 18th minute Lawrence Robledo scored on a first-time ball inside the six-yard box, with the assist coming from Devon Sandoval. Twelve minutes later, great individual work on the right flank by freshman Riley McGovern found Devon Sandoval far post for an easy tap-in to make it 2-0 Lobos. Irvine capitalized on an uncharacteristic Lobo mistake in the midfield in the later moments of the game to cut the lead in half, but the match ended 2-1 Lobos. Poblete and Lane split time in goal for the Lobos.
Quality day and great way to finish up a tremendous spring season. Thanks for all your support the past nine months and be prepared for an action packed 2011! The season opening match will be played on Friday, August 26th vs. Towson University at Lobo Stadium. I will get the schedule out to you in the next couple of weeks. Have a wonderful summer and GO LOBOS!