It was a great return home for the Lobo Men’s Soccer team, as they won both of their matches at the TLC Pluming & Utility Invitational, winning against Missouri State and nationally-ranked American University. With the two wins this weekend, the Lobos improve to 5-1-1 on the season and have won their last five matches. The Lobos will start Conference USA play Friday at South Carolina, who is coming off their CUSA opener with a win on the road against UAB.
Missouri State Recap: This was a frustrating game to watch. Not because of the play of the Lobos, but because of the style of play Missouri State employs. Missouri State game into the game trying to steal a 0-0 draw by packing it in on the defensive third and hoping the Lobos wouldn’t find the back of the net. This approach seemed like it was working until the 64th minute, when Aaron Herrera was able to get free on the right side and was able to send a low cross that found Niko Hansen’s foot. Hansen got it past the keeper for his first goal of the season. As soon as Missouri State gave up the goal, they seemed to act as though the game was over, simply because they couldn’t get the 0-0 draw anymore. The Lobos had other good chances but couldn’t find that second goal, but it didn’t matter in this match, as they had one of the more dominating 1-0 wins you’ll ever see.
American University Recap: The main event of the Invitational was Sunday night, as the 2,500 fans in attendance witnessed a fantastic soccer match with a lot of drama. The sides played on even terms for the first half, until a missed clearance on a long free kick by American University’s goalie in the 40th minute led to a scramble and Nick Sifrin was able to find the back of the net. The Lobos continued their streak of not being able to score a goal in the first half this season, leaving them down 1-0 at the half.
However, the Lobos found life, as they have all year, in the second half and put pressure on American throughout the rest of the game. The turning point in the match, for me, was when American starting trying to milk the clock with 30 minutes left, which gave the Lobos confidence that American couldn’t finish off the match at full strength. The Lobos dominated the second half, out-shooting American 14-6 and having a 7-2 advantage on corner kicks. With about 20 minutes left in the match, it appeared that the Lobos found the equalizer, but the lines judge ruled that a Lobos attacking player was offsides on the play. It appeared that the Lobos were going to run out of time, but in the 85th minute Francesco Casucci was able to find Niko Hansen in the middle, who flicked the ball over the defender and sent a shot past the goalie to send the UNM Soccer Complex into a frenzy. Neither team was able to find the game winner in the last five minutes of regulation, so the game would have to be decided in overtime.
It appeared that American was going to win the game when they had a breakaway play, but Jason Beaulieu was able to make an outstanding save to keep that Lobos alive. Finally, in the 98th minute the Lobos were able to get a corner kick, where Josh Goss sent in a ball that got through the defense and found the foot of Casucci, who was able to tap in the game winner.
Awards: For the third straight week the Lobos swept Conference USA players of the week. However, after two straight weeks of Chris Wehan and Jason Beaulieu winning the awards, Niko Hansen and Nick Rochowski took the honors. Hansen was also named TLC Pluming & Utility MVP and Offensive MVP while Rochowski was named Defensive MVP. Francesco Casucci and Patrick Khouri were also named to the all-Invitational Team.
Stepping Up: After seeing Chris Wehan scoring six goals in the Lobos first five games, the Lobos needed other players to step up and help the Lobos’ attack. Niko Hansen definitely answered the call this weekend. After not scoring the first five matches of the season, Hansen was able to rack up two goals in two games. Also stepping up for the Lobos was freshman Fransesco Casucci, who had an assist and the game winning goal in the big win against American. This showed the Lobos, and their fans, that they can win against good teams without Wehan scoring the goals, which bodes well for the rest of the season.
Rankings: The Lobos are in an interesting spot for national rankings right now, as they found their ranking drop in Top Drawer Soccer (15th to 17th) and improve in their ranking on College Soccer News (23rd to 15th). NCAA rankings don’t get released until Tuesday, so it will be interesting to see where they fall in those rankings. One thing for sure is that if you keep on winning matches, the rankings and NCAA tournament seeding will take care of itself.