LOS ANGELES – The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team opened its season with the most difficult test in the nation by traveling to take on No. 1 UCLA, but, despite several good chances, the Lobos dropped a hard-fought match to the top-ranked Bruins 1-0 on a second-half goal.
“We’re leaving with a little bit of an empty feeling,” UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein said. “We played a really talented team but we gave ourselves chances to win the game. When you play teams of that caliber, especially on the road, you only get a few chances, and you have to take those chances. That’s how you win those games. We did a lot of things really well, but we didn’t get those one or two special moments.”
The scoreless first half was pretty evenly played with both team recording two shots on goal. UCLA had probably the best chance off a corner as a deflection forced keeper Jason Beaulieu to scramble and dive to save the ball against the goal post. The sophomore finished with six saves, the second most in his career.
In the 50th minute UCLA began a four-minute assault on the UNM goal. Beaulieu was faced to make a save in traffic, but the ball went right to a Bruin who was down in the box. He kicked it goalwards, but Chris Gurule made a goal line clearance to keep the game scoreless. UCLA went on to have five corner kicks in the next two minutes and the Lobo defense scrambled to cover and keep the score level.
“It was a pretty even game outside of that one spell,” said Fishbein. “We gave up a bunch of corners, but I’m proud of our overall play.”
Niko Hansen had the next great chance of the game in the 60th minute. He received a long through ball from Josh Goss, but his shot from about seven yards was saved. The Bruins then broke the ice off a corner kick just two minutes later. An initial shot was blocked, but the rebound went straight to UCLA, and Malcolm Jones made a great play on the ball to knock it into the net.
The Lobos carried the play after that for long stretches, especially in possession. They had a great chance in the 73rd minute on a nice cross into the box by Goss. Kasper Kajermo headed it down, but it was just out of the reach of Hansen and cleared for a corner. The ball appeared to have been played off a hand of a Bruin, but no penalty kick was forthcoming.
UNM thought it had another possible handball in the box off a corner in the 82nd minute, but again no call was made. In the end the Lobos were unable to crack the Bruins.
“We have a real promising season ahead of us, but young guys have to play like veterans,” Fishbein said. “There were a lot of positives, but we’re never happy with losing. This program will never be happy with not getting a result.”
UNM will host its first two matches of the season next weekend in The Grange & Ashwill Memorial Invitational. The Lobos will take on San Diego Friday night at 7 and face UCSB Sunday at 6 p.m.
“We’re going to come home, have a great week of training, and we’re looking forward to having a great weekend against top opponents,” said Fishbein.
Scoring Summary
UCLA (61:42): Jones
Cautions
New Mexico: Seligman, yellow (62:26)
UCLA: Cline, yellow (82:57)
Notes
- Four Lobos — freshmen Aaron Herrera, Matt Dorsey and Patrick Khouri, and sophomore Lucas Seligman — made their first career start
- In addition to Herrera, Dorsey and Khouri, two other Lobos saw their first playing time for UNM: freshmen Francesco Casucci and Kasper Kajermo
- The Lobos were the more disciplined team, committing only 13 fouls to UCLA’s 16
Next up
The Lobos will play their first two home matches of the season next weekend in the Grange & Ashwill Memorial Invitational. They face San Diego Friday night at 7 and UCSB next Sunday at 6 p.m.