Lobos close out regular season at No. 19 Charlotte
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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 4-10-1 (2-4-1 C-USA) |
No. 19 CHARLOTTE 49ERS 11-3-1 (5-2-0 C-USA) |
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Saturday, November 3, 2018 | 5 p.m. (MT) |
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vs. Charlotte
Series Record: 1-4-2
When Charlotte is Ranked: 1-2-0
In Overtime: 0-0-1
Last Meeting: Last year the Lobos took on the 49ers twice with both games coming in the span of 11 days. The first game was played to a scoreless tie in Albuquerque on October 28. On November 8, the two met once more, this time in Norfolk, Va. for the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tournament. Charlotte took that game 1-0 on the strength of a penalty kick in the 81st minute and advanced to the semifinals of the tournament.
Tournament Clinched
With the last weekend of conference play remaining, the Lobos have clinched a berth to the upcoming Conference USA Tournament held in Charlotte, N.C. After their tie with Marshall, the Lobos are tied for seventh place in the standings with UAB. With seven points to their credit, the Lobos secured a berth as the bottom two teams currently in the standings, South Carolina and Florida Atlantic, both lost earlier this week to keep them with 3 points with just one game to play. Neither can now catch the Lobos and all that is left to be determined is seeding.
Senior Trio
The 2018 University of New Mexico men’s soccer team features a trio of seniors with two that have played all four years here at UNM. Matt Dorsey and Simon Spangenberg have been Lobos since their freshman season while Antoine Vial joined the program last year as a junior. Combined, the trio have scored 14 career goals and six assists to total 34 points. In their combined time at UNM, the Lobos have won 32 games and they have logged over 7,000 minutes of play.
Dorsey Shines on Senior Night
Senior night was special for Matt Dorsey as he played a huge role in the 2-2 tie with Marshall. Dorsey had a foot in both goals by the Lobos, starting with an assist to Nick Taylor which put the team at a 1-0 advantage in the first half. Four minutes later, Dorsey scored his own goal, after weaving his way past multiple defenders to put the Lobos up 2-0 before halftime. It was the first-time Dorsey had ever posted a goal and an assist in the same game as a Lobo.
Youth Movement
With only three seniors on this year’s squad, the Lobos have not relied solely on their veteran leadership in terms of offense. In fact, the top three scorers on the team are underclassmen, as two sophomores and one freshmen lead the pack.
The top-scoring player on this year’s team is sophomore Nick Taylor who has four goals and five assists for a total of 13 points. One point behind is freshman Omar Grey who has five goals and two assists for a total of 12 points. The third top-scoring athlete in this group is sophomore Matt Puig who has found the back of the net four times this season and has assisted in three goals for a total of 11 points
GOAL!!!! New Mexico!
Entering play this weekend, the Lobos have scored 22 goals in 15 games. Freshman Omar Grey currently leads the team with five goals, followed by sophomores Matt Puig and Nick Taylor with four. Senior Antoine Vial is third on the team with three. Seniors Simon Spangenberg and Matt Dorsey have two goals each. Redshirt sophomores Billy Jones and Grayson Dupont account for the remaining goals with one apiece.
Schedule full of Ranked teams
Having already faced seven ranked teams already this season, the Lobos are set to square off with yet another as they travel to Charlotte, N.C. to take on No. 19-ranked Charlotte.
The influx of nationally-ranked foes started early in the season for the Lobos as four of UNM’s first five matchups of the season were against ranked squads at the time of the game including No. 22 Seattle (8/24) , No. 24 Washington (8/27), No. 30 Cal State Fullerton (9/2) and No. 23 Tulsa (9/7). Half of those ranked matchups came at home with the Lobos hosting Seattle and Washington in consecutive games. UNM went 1-1-0 against those opponents and were also 1-1-0 against ranked teams on the road during that early stretch.
In their victories against Seattle and Cal State Fullerton, the Lobos scored a combined nine goals with five coming against Cal State Fullerton.
CSUN was also ranked at one point this season, making the first five squads the Lobos have taken on, be top-30 teams in 2018. Old Dominion was receiving votes in the national poll at the time of the game against the Lobos and now the Monarchs are currently ranked.
Saint Mary’s, UNM’s opponent on September 26 was ranked No. 10 at the time making them the sixth opponent the Lobos have played be ranked at the time of the game. The most-recent ranked opponent for the Lobos was Kentucky, who were No. 3 in the country at the time of the October 21 meeting.