This past weekend, New Mexico Men’s Soccer went to South Carolina to open their Conference USA season and played an even match with a lot of emotional swings for both sides. South Carolina was able to score early, when a cross was sent in to the six-yard box and found the body of Kevin Walker in just the 3rd minute for his third goal of the season. It appeared that the Lobos would find themselves down 2-0 when Walker got free again, but his shot on an open goal found the cross bar and the Lobos were able to clear the ball. The Lobos did have a 6 to 3 shot advantage in the first half, but they, like all year, were unable to find the net in the first half and were down 1-0 after 45 minutes.
South Carolina applied pressure much of the game, but weren’t able to find their second goal in regulation. This allowed Chris Wehan to do some magic. In the 86th minute, Wehan had the ball in the 18-yard box and was taken down from behind to set up a penalty kick. Naturally, Wehan was able to put it in with no difficulty for his seventh goal of the season. After Wehan found the equalizer, it appeared that this match was going to end in either a draw or a Lobos win. The Lobos looked like the better team for the last 30 minutes of the match, but they weren’t able to find another goal to come away with the victory. Unfortunately, in the 99th minute a cross/shot that was sent into the six-yard box by Jeffrey Torda wasn’t handled by Jason Beaulieu, giving Torda the game-winner and his third goal of the season.
While this loss was disappointing and ended their five-match win streak, I don’t think that this loss really hurts the Lobos’ chances to win the conference, as I don’t see South Carolina losing more than a match at home during conference play. It still does feel like a missed opportunity.
Up Next: The Lobos will return to action at home on Wednesday Night at 7pm to play a non-conference match against San Francisco. This is an important match for the Lobos to find a combination that will work to score in the first half, a nagging issue for the team so far this season. After Wednesday’s match, they return to C-USA play when they host Kentucky on Sunday.