BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The No. 15 University of New Mexico men’s soccer team dropped its final road game of the regular season by a score of 3-2 at UAB in a Conference USA showdown. Niko Hansen and Chris Wehan both scored for the Lobos, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Blazers.
“It’s a pretty tough one, considering how well we played for the vast majority of the game,” head caoch Jeremy Fishbein said. “This isn’t like the Kentucky (loss). where we played poorly for the first 45 minutes. This was a good effort by the guys. We still played well. We played a good attacking team that took advantage of its chances.”
The Lobos (10-4-1, 3-3-0) found themselves behind early after a long-range effort by the Blazers (9-5-1, 4-2-0) was perfectly placed over the outstretched fingers of Patrick Poblete and into the net just 3:27 into the match.
“That first goal was a shot that guy is probably going to hit one time in 20, but he hit it,” said Fishbein.
UNM struck right back though, tying it up five minutes later after some nice passing between Wehan, James Rogers and Hansen. Wehan intercepted a pass and worked it towards the center of the field. He found Rogers while getting fouled, but advantage was played. Rogers fended off the defender and worked it to Hansen. The sophomore curled it into the net from the top of the box for his fourth goal of the season.
A nice long air ball by Chris Gurule in the 21st minute found Wehan with some time and space, but his cross into the box found only the UAB defense. Just three minutes later the Blazers retook the lead on a goal by C-USA Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Freddy Ruiz.
UAB expanded its lead to 3-1 by converting a penalty in the 58th minute when a handball was called on a low cross in the box.
“It’s hard to win a game when you give up three goals, regardless of how theyre scored,” said Fishbein. “You feel that if you score two goals you should win the game.”
Wehan brought UNM back within one in the 74th minute when launched a perfect shot into the upper corner from about 25 yards out for his team-leading eighth of the season to cut the deficit in half.
The Lobos couldn’t find the equalizer, though, despite four corner kicks in the last eight minutes. Senior Patrick Poblete (5-1-1) suffered his first loss of the season in goal for UNM.
“We relinquished control of our destiny a little bit in terms of the (NCAA) tournament and conference things, but we can’t focus on that,” Fishbein said. “We need to focus on our next game at home Saturday. We need to recover and get ready. We had two great goals by Niko and Wehan, and we came out of the match healthy, so we can take a lot of positives away. There’s still a lot of belief on the team.”
Scoring Summary
UAB (03:27): Clay
New Mexico (08:33): Hansen (Rogers)
UAB (24:44): Ruiz (Willemse)
UAB (57:40): Clay (PK)
New Mexico (73:06): Wehan (Rogers)
Cautions
New Mexico: Fisher, yellow (81:34)
Lineups
New Mexico: Poblete (GK), Gibbons, McGovern, Miele, McKendry, Rogers, Fisher, Hansen, Wehan, Gurule, Dye
UAB: Kuzminsky (GK), Copeland, Svantesson, Ngoe, Willemse, Roberts, Clay, White, Valverda, Navarrete, Ruiz
Notes
- The Lobos outshot the Blazers 14-8 and also led in corners 10-5
- Hansen’s four goals are second only to Wehan on the team
Next up
The Lobos’s final two matches of the regular season are home games. First up is Marshall on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.