Aug. 20, 2012
LONG BEACH, Calif. – As the first official game week of the 2012 men’s soccer season opens, the New Mexico Lobos were ranked sixth in the country in TopDrawerSoccer.com’s preseason rankings. It marks the third preseason poll to put the Lobos in the top ten nationally and the second to rank them sixth. The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) ranked Coach Fishbein and company sixth in the country earlier this month.
TopDrawerSoccer’s preseason ranking, which ranks the top 48 teams in NCAA Division I soccer, has New Mexico as only one of two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation teams in the rankings. UNM was selected to win the MPSF in this year’s preseason coaches’ poll. To read TDS’s preseason rankings in its entirety, click here.
Last week, TopDrawerSoccer listed this year’s New Mexico team as one of its ten national title contenders in 2012.
The 2012 Lobos are fresh off a pair of exhibition wins last weekend. They defeated Cal State Northridge 3-2 on Thursday before downing San Diego State 2-1 on Saturday. The two victories saw four different Lobos score goals, including junior Michael Calderon who scored in each game.
The program will open its regular season with a ranked opponent in UCLA, which ranked 15th in the same rankings. The match is scheduled for Friday, August 24th at 8 p.m. on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles. It will also be one of the first-ever soccer broadcasts on the new PAC-12 Network. For more information about the network’s availability, click here.
Lobos Preseason Poll Positioning
NSCAA Coaches Poll (National) – 6th
College Soccer News (National) – 2nd
TopDrawerSoccer.com (National) – 6th
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coaches Poll – 1st