Men's Soccer Claims Another 3-1 Exhibition Win
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team claimed its second straight exhibition match by a 3-1 margin on Thursday night at the UNM Soccer Complex. UNM used a trio of upper classmen including Wedner Delmonte, Aaron Herrera and Luke Lawrence in the second half to top Colorado School of Mines.
“We were really poor in the first half, we had to be good on the ball, we had to keep possession and we had to connect passes. In that first half we really just gave it away,” head coach Jeremy Fishbein said. “We allowed them a lot of transition and a lot of chances, but I was really happy with our reaction. I thought the second half we were very good, we scored three nice goals and that showed a lot.
“I think we need to focus on the positives. These are tough games, this was a very good game and it was a tough team to beat but our reaction was good and we played really well in the second half.”
The first half rolled by smoothly without a single second of stoppage. The Orediggers put pressure on the Lobo defense but neither team was able to find the back of the net through the first 45 minutes.
Kicking off the second half still tied at 0-0, the Lobos found their footing. Redshirt junior and Grand Canyon transfer Delmonte brought the ball nearly from midfield to net the first goal of the game and put UNM up 1-0 at the 57:19 mark.
In the 72nd minute, junior defender Herrera landed a free kick into the net to make it 2-0 before senior Lawrence picked up a rebound for the third Lobo goal just under five minutes later.
Mines retaliated with its lone goal less than two minutes later at the 78:58 mark when Ashi Geberkidane found the back of the net.
The second half proved a bit chippy as a Lobo and an Oredigger were each awarded yellow cards. Mines outshot UNM 16-8 despite the lopsided score.
UNM returns to action on Saturday, August 19 at the UNM Soccer Complex when it hosts Grand Canyon in its final exhibition match of the season at 7 p.m. The game will be the No. 20 Lobos’ final tune-up opportunity before taking to the road against No. 11 Washington in the squad’s season opener on August 25.
*Note – For UNM exhibition games, full statistics will not be published. Fans looking to follow the action can do so in person, or can follow the UNMLoboMSoccer account on Twitter for live updates.
Scoring Summary:
1. 57:19 NM Wedner Delmonte (G)
2. 72:47 NM Aaron Herrera (G)
3. 77:11 NM Luke Lawrence (G)
4. 78:58 CSM Ashi Geberkidane