Lobos Drop Regular-Season Finale, 1-0
NORFOLK, VA. — The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team fell to (RV) Old Dominion by a score of 1-0 in its regular-season finale on Friday night on the road. The loss marks just the second for the Lobos in their last 10 matches while the goal marks the first against UNM in three.
“This was a tough way to end the regular season,” head coach Jeremy Fishbein said. “It was a really disappointing result. We opened the game poorly and just six minutes in we had the cards against us. At halftime, we felt this was a winnable game. We played better in the second half, created some chances, but not enough.”
Senior Jason Beaulieu, coming off of a pair of double-overtime shutouts, let up his first goal in three matches at the six-minute mark. ODU redshirt-sophomore Sebastien Hauret tallied his fourth goal of the season on a bullet to the left side of the net, just out of Beaulieu’s reach.
For the rest of the match, UNM (8-5-4, 3-3-2 C-USA) played catchup and was ultimately outshot 16-10 by the Monarchs (9-5-2, 6-2-0 C-USA). Despite the lopsided shot attempts, the Lobos were outshot by a just narrow 4-3 margin in shots on goal.
The Lobo offense continued its struggle streak, but after the early goal, the UNM defense returned to its usual impenetrable state, refusing to allow another for the remaining 84 minutes of competition. Prior to the match, UNM’s defensive unit had not allowed a goal in over 231 minutes. For the rest of Friday’s match, UNM’s defense held the Monarchs to just three shots on goal.
Leading the attack was redshirt-sophomore Tom Smart and junior defender Aaron Herrera who each posted a pair of shots. Three different players registered shots on goal including junior Simon Spangenberg, senior Sam Gleadle and Herrera.
For just the fourth time this season, the opposing team tallied more corner kicks as Old Dominion posted five to a season-low two for UNM. Both Beaulieu and ODU keeper Mertcan Akar posted three saves in 90 minutes.
“It was really disappointing at this point in the season to see that we didn’t have a little bit more about us,” Fishbein said. “It really was a tough way to end the regular season.”
The Lobos will look to rebound from their last three scoreless outings when they kick off the 2017 Conference USA Tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 8 in the quarterfinal round. Opponent and time will be announced as the information becomes available.