2016 is finally, mercifully behind us. And while the year has been a rough one in a lot of ways, we still ended up with a lot of great memories from following the Lobos over the past 12 months. Without further ado, here are our favorite Lobo memories from the past year.
I.B. Luc’s Top Memories from 2016
Men’s Soccer Winning the Conference USA Tournament
The Lobos were in a difficult situation heading into the Conference USA Tournament, most likely needing to win or at least to make the finals of the tournament to make the NCAA Tournament. The path to get there looked extremely difficult, needing to advance past top-25 teams Kentucky and Charlotte to make the finals. They did just that in remarkable fashion. Against Kentucky, they twice found themselves down a goal, once early in the match and once late in the match, but found an answer each time. When the game remained tied after the overtime periods, it was time for the hero of the first round of the tournament: back-up goalie and penalty kick specialist, Ford Parker. Parker stopped an incredible four penalties to send the Lobos to the semifinals against Charlotte.
In the semifinal game against Charlotte, the Lobos claimed a 2-0 lead in the 71st minute after receiving goals from Chris Wehan and Niko Hansen. After a Charlotte goal in the 78th minute made the score 2-1, the Lobos defense withstood the pressure from the Charlotte attack to win the match and head to the championship against FIU. In the championship match, the Lobos were unable to break through for a goal until 68th minute, when Wehan found Hansen in the box for the opening goal of the match. Those two weren’t done, however. Needing to put the match out of question, Wehan won a ball in the midfield and beat the goalie to give the Lobos a 2-0 lead in the 84th minute. I didn’t even get to finish tweeting my customary #YesWehan tweet before Hansen scored his second goal of the game in the 87th minute to seal the Lobos’ 3-0 championship win.
Baseball’s Wild Game against Fresno State
In the wildest, and weirdest game of the year, the Lobos came from behind multiple times to beat Fresno State 14-13 in 12 innings. The Lobos used 22 players overall, which meant that some pitchers had to hit and even play in the field. In the 9th inning, the Lobos were down two when Carl Stajduhar hit a game-tying homerun to send it into extra innings. After Fresno State scored 4 runs in the top of the 10th, it looked like the Lobos had run out of gas and were going to lose the game. Not so fast! Luis Gonzalez hit a two-run homer to make it 13-11 and give the Lobos some life. After a runner got on for the Lobos, Chris Devito hit his third homer of the game to tie it at 13 and keep the game going. In the 12th inning, after Devito and Stajduhar both singled, the Bulldogs intentionally walked Reece Weber to advance Devito and Stajduhar to third and second which also loaded the bases with 1 out. Andre Vigil came through with a base hit to score Devito and win this wild and crazy game.
Baseball’s Postseason Run
Much like the men’s soccer team, the Lobo Baseball team needed to win their conference tournament to make sure they would make the NCAA Tournament. Getting to host the MW Tournament was a huge boost for the Lobos, who ran through the 3 games needed to win without much doubt, outscoring their opponents 23-8 over the 3 games. With their NCAA Tournament bid locked and loaded, the Lobos headed to Lubbock, where the Lobos beat a very good DBU in their first game to set up a huge game against Texas Tech. The Lobos lead 3-1 going into the 8th inning, looking to be in the driver’s seat to make their first Super Regional. The Red Raiders had different ideas, scoring two in the 8th and one in the 9th to win the game 4-3. The Lobos were still alive but were unable to bounce back from the tough loss, losing to DBU 5-3 in their next game to end their great season.
Coach Bradbury’s Hiring
After the firing of Coach Sanchez, the Lobos needed to find a new head coach to lead the women’s basketball program and to energize the fan base. When names came out of who the Lobos were looking at, the name that stood out to me the most was Coach Mike Bradbury at Wright State, who had success at that school and favored an exciting style of play. When I saw that Paul Krebs had hired Coach Bradbury, I was very excited and optimistic of what he could potentially do at UNM, especially once he was able to fully make the program his own. The early returns have been good, including a couple of dominating performances against good basketball teams, so nothing has taken away any of my excitement so far. I can’t wait to see what he is able to do when he gets his players in, and is able to fully commit to his brand of basketball.
Bob Bobbins’ Top Memories from 2016
Courtney Frerichs Dominates the Steeplechase
The steeplechase is a bizarre sport that originated because some people in the mid-1800s saw horses jumping over walls and steams and thought that it looked like fun. 150-ish years later, the Lobos happened to have the best women’s steeplechaser in collegiate history. Courtney Frerichs came into the NCAA Championships as the prohibitive favorite to win the 3000m Steeplechase and she managed to exceed those lofty expectations. In the finals, she destroyed the field, taking such a huge lead that her victory was never in question. She finished with a time of 9:24.41, which set a new NCAA record by a full second and put her 17 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. She carried that momentum to the USA Track and Field trials, where she earned a trip to Rio to compete in the 2016 Olympics, ultimately finishing 11th in the world. The crazy thing is, this just might be the beginning for her.
Football after Dark
This football season could have warranted a full list of memories on its own, including everything from tough losses early in the season to watching Coach Davie get carried off the field after his first career bowl win as a head coach. However, one of my favorite memories was something a little weirder. In their 9th game of the season, the Lobos were already on the verge of clinching bowl eligibility and it looked like they might have the right opponent to put them over the top. Because of that, we headed down to University Stadium to watch the Lobos in a late-night matchup against Nevada (thanks ESPNU!) It was a little cold and there was a chance of rain, but like the other 17,288 fans that showed up, we were looking forward to celebrating with the team once they picked up their 6th win. However, the chance of rain was understated, as a thunderstorm tore through the area at halftime, knocking out the power to the stadium and delaying the game for a couple of hours. Like approximately 17,000 other fans, we ended up leaving during the storm to watch the rest of the game at our homes. However, seeing the handful of fans who braved the elements and remain at the stadium seemed to inspire the team, propelling them to score the first 14 points of the second half. In the fourth quarter, after midnight, they were able to withstand a Nevada comeback to pull out a 35-26 win. I watched the team celebrate their 6th win around 1am, then I promptly passed out.
Men’s Basketball’s Miraculous Comeback
It was mid-February and things were starting to fall apart for the Lobos. The week before, they lost a controversial game at San Diego State that effectively gave the Aztecs an insurmountable lead in the conference. They followed that up by losing at Utah State in an uninspiring performance. Then, the team got national attention when word got out that the coach’s son, Cullen Neal, was receiving threats. Sure, the Lobos won their next game against the hapless SJSU Spartans, but things were not going well in Loboland.
Enter a Wednesday night matchup against Boise State at the Pit. Boise was looking to avenge a loss to the Lobos up in Idaho and, after the score staying close for most of the game, used a big run to turn a 59-55 lead with 13 minutes left to go into a 76-61 advantage with only 6 minutes to go. After seeing his team score only three points over the next couple of minutes with most of the starters in, Coach Neal decided to throw a Hail Mary and go with a lineup that featured only two starters (Elijah Brown and Tim Williams), a freshman (Dane Kuiper), a walk-on (Tim Jacobs), and the last big on the bench (Joe Furstinger). Defying pretty much every expectation, it worked. Tim and, especially, Elijah provided the offense while the rest of the lineup were able to shut Boise down, putting the team on a 16-2 run over the last 4:15 of the game to pull out an 80-78 win.
It would be great to say that this moment was the catalyst for the team finishing out strong and that it turned the whole season around, but as anyone who was following the team could tell you, it didn’t. The team lost 5 of its next 6 games, didn’t play in any postseason tournaments, and even saw the coach’s son transfer after the season. However, it did prove that even in a disappointing season, you never know when you’ll end up watching an incredibly entertaining and fun game.