Strong First Half Leads Lobos to 4-1 Victory at Marquette
MILWAUKEE, WIS. — A strong, action-packed first-half performance led the University of New Mexico men’s soccer team to a 4-1 victory over Marquette on the road on Monday night. The win marks the Lobos’ second straight, both of which featured first-half UNM scoring en route to the win. Additionally, the Lobos racked up 14 shots on goal, tying for sixth in UNM history for shots on goal in a single match.
Redshirt-sophomore Devin Boyce led the Lobo offense, registering four points on a goal and two assists. Also scoring for the Lobos in the match were senior Luke Lawrence, redshirt-junior Wedner Delmonte and freshman Nick Taylor with his second goal of his career in as many games.
“I really feel like we got the performance we needed,” head coach Jeremy Fishbein said. “The win over UNLV was a little bitter sweet. The guys weren’t thrilled with their performance so this was a really great reaction. We came out with a lot of fire, scored some really good goals and got on top early.
“The scoring with Luke, Nick, Wedner and Devin was really balanced and it was great to see that kind of offensive output. We had a lot of guys play and contribute and the energy levels were good, we’re really looking forward to returning to Albuquerque and playing at home on Friday night.”
The Lobos (2-2-0) got the scoring started in just the fifth minute, marking the fastest Lobo goal scored since Sept. 17, 2016 when Niko Hansen scored in 2:16 against UC Irvine. Boyce picked up a saved shot fired by freshman Alex Vedamanikam and buried it into the left side of the net to put UNM up 1-0 at the 5:23 mark. The goal marks Boyce’s first of the season, the third of his career.
Marquette (0-2-1) evened the score less than 20 minutes later when Grant Owens knocked a header off a cross just out of senior keeper Jason Beaulieu’s reach to make it 1-1.
The tie was short-lived, however, as Taylor netted his second career goal in as many games just one minute later. The freshman fired from the top of the box off of a deflection to put the Lobos back on top 2-1. This is the second game that Taylor’s long-range accuracy has been demonstrated. His first career goal, which he notched on Friday, was a blast from 30 yards.
It was Lawrence who gave UNM an insurance goal at the 39:27 mark with a sliding goal from four yards out near the right post, giving the Lobos a 3-1 lead heading into halftime. The goal served as Lawrence’s second of the season after netting the Lobos’ only goal in their first two games, a last-minute tally against Washington.
At the halfway mark, the Lobos led 13-7 in shots and finished outshooting Marquette 23-12. UNM posted 14 shots on goal to just six for Marquette to tie for sixth in program history in shots on goal in a single match. Additionally, 23 total shots was just two shy of the record book total for most in a game. Twenty-five would have tied for 12th in UNM history.
The opening of the second half was highlighted by a pair of outstanding, point blank-range saves by Beaulieu as the Marquette offense opened the period firing on target. The Golden Eagles worked their way past the Lobo defensive unit and took shots from the close right post, but Beaulieu made back-to-back saves to preserve the two-goal Lobo lead.
“Defensively, it wasn’t easy,” Fishbein said. “Jason made a couple of great saves and our center backs were really good. This is really what we needed and it’s nice to be able to return home and play our next three games at home.”
Delmonte was the only player to score in the second half. He notched his first goal as a Lobo at the 57:58 mark with a skillful header that put UNM up 4-1 and ultimately clinched the three-goal victory.
Beaulieu earns the win for UNM and improves to 2-2 on the season while Marquette’s Luis Barraza falls to 0-2-1 on the season. Beaulieu tallied five saves while Barraza registered 10 on the day.
The Lobos return to action on Friday as the squad hosts the Grange and Ashwill Tournament. UNM will host CSUN and UC Irvine starting with CSUN on Friday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. No. 4 Denver will also be headed to Albuquerque for the tournament however, the Lobos will not face the highly-ranked squad until later in the season.