Dec. 14, 2012
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team finished in tenth in the final national rankings from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). It marks the second-straight season the Lobos have ended the year ranked among the nation’s top ten teams. New Mexico spent the entire season ranked in the NSCAA’s Top 20 as the team went 17-4-1.
UNM was ranked sixth in the nation in the NSCAA’s preseason poll in August, and they reached as high as third throughout the course of the season. Spending the entire season ranked means New Mexico has now been ranked in their last 39 consecutive matches.
The 2012 Lobos made the program’s fourth appearance in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament since 2004. New Mexico was one of only seven teams in the country to make back-to-back NCAA Third Round appearances in 2011 and 2012. It was also UNM’s ninth NCAA Tournament appearance in the last eleven seasons.
2012 was the program’s final season as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, and Coach Fishbein and company took full advantage of it. They captured the MPSF Regular Season Championship, which was their eighth since 2001. They also dominated the All-MPSF awards in the conference with eleven Lobos receiving honors. New Mexico had four members on the All-MPSF First Team and the Newcomer of the Year in freshman Ben McKendry.
As they leave the MPSF, Coach Fishbein and company take with them an impressive 76-16-9 (88.4%) conference record since 2002. New Mexico has fielded five MPSF Players of the Year and seen Lobos receive All-MPSF honors on 85 different occasions. Fishbein has also been named Coach of the Year in the conference on four separate occasions.
UNM will be a Conference USA member for men’s soccer starting with the 2013 season.