It has been a disappointing start to the Conference USA schedule for both New Mexico and UAB, as they both look to get their seasons back on track in their match Sunday night in Albuquerque. The Lobos have played well for the most part, but haven’t been able to find results that they wanted in the last five matches. The Lobos’ NCAA Tournament hopes are still alive, but they need to start getting results or they will miss the Tournament for the second straight season. Look for the Lobos to come out with enough fire and passion to find the win they have been looking for. This should be a very entertaining match with a lot of action on the attacking sides.
Category: Men’s Soccer
Men’s Soccer vs. Valparaiso Recap
It was a most eventful night to be at the UNM Soccer Complex for the match featuring the Lobos and the Crusaders, and that was even before the game actually began. The match started 40 plus minutes late, as the west sidelights were unable to turn on. The Crusaders and the Lobos eventually agreed to start the match with just the one bank of lights and it didn’t take long for the Lobos to get on the board, when Sam Gleadle found Chris Wehan in the first minute for a goal that gave the Lobos an early 1-0 lead. The goal was Wehan’s ninth goal of the season and marked only the second match this season in which the Lobos scored in the first half. The rest of the first half didn’t have much excitement, with most of the Crusaders shots coming from way out side the 18 yard box and the only other great chance for the Lobos was when Niko Hansen hit the post in his chance to give the Lobos a 2-0 lead.
Men’s Soccer vs. Valparaiso Preview
After a tough loss on the road against nationally-ranked Old Dominion, the Lobos return to Albuquerque to take on a solid Valparaiso team from the Horizon League. This is a very important match for the Lobos to rebound after a 0-3-0 start to the Conference USA schedule. The Lobos have seemingly lost all of their momentum built during the non-conference slate and must pick up results in almost all their remaining matches to have a good chance of making the NCAA Tournament. While this is a tough task, the Lobos still have talent. They need to come together as a unit and find a way to come out of this match with the victory. They also have to find a way to play better in the first half so they don’t keep on putting pressure on themselves to come from behind in the second half.
Men’s Soccer at Old Dominion Recap
The start to the Conference USA season has not been what the Lobos were hoping for, finding themselves at 0-3-0 after three matches. Saturday was another example of playing on relatively even terms but struggling to find the net, especially in the first half. The Lobos need to find their stride again or their season could end up just like last season, where they missed the NCAA Tournament with a talented squad. I believe that they will regroup and find a way to make the NCAA Tournament. If they do, they will be a side that other teams won’t want to face.
Men’s Soccer at Old Dominion Preview
The Lobos head east to Norfolk Virginia to take on Old Dominion in a key Conference USA match. For the Lobos to have a chance to win the Conference USA title, they need to win this match. The Lobos haven’t gotten off to the start that they want in conference play, losing two heartbreakers, and have to try to get on track on the road against a very solid team. The Lobos are without the services of freshman defender Aaron Herrera who was called up for an USA U-20 tournament in Germany, so they will have to rely on someone else to stabilize the backline. For the Lobos to have a good shot in this match, they must solve their first half struggles. They have only scored in the first half in one match this year, with three goals against San Francisco, which won’t cut it for this game. They can’t afford to fall behind ODU and expect to come back and win this match.
Men’s Soccer vs. Kentucky Recap
The Lobo Men’s soccer team had another tough loss in overtime to start out its conference home slate, losing 1-0 in 2OT to Kentucky. The loss moves the Lobos to 6-3-1 overall and 0-2-0 in conference play, desperately needing to gain back the momentum they had during their 5 match win streak. This loss is nowhere close to the end of the Lobos season, as they have plenty of matches left and still have time to improve their ranking and seeding come NCAA tournament time. Look for the Lobos to work on things to improve their first half attack.
Men’s Soccer vs. San Francisco Recap
New Mexico Men’s Soccer came back home after a tough loss in its Conference USA opener against South Carolina to play a non-conference game against University of San Francisco. The Dons (2-9-0) were a team that seemed to promise a great confidence-boosting opportunity and give Coach Fishbein the chance to give important players minutes off the pitch and give bench players a chance to play in a match. That promise was delivered, as the Lobos improved their record to (6-2-1, 0-1-0) with a 3-0 win against the Dons.
Men’s Soccer AT South Carolina Recap
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.
UNM Men’s Soccer vs. South Carolina Preview
The New Mexico Men’s Soccer team will start their Conference USA season tonight, when they go on the road to play South Carolina. The Lobos are on a nice streak right now, winning their last five matches against a good slate of opponents. The Lobos are playing great soccer going into C-USA play and will try to make up for last season’s collapse that saw them finish their conference season at 4-4-0. This is a very important game for the Lobos conference title chances because not many teams will get a result at South Carolina, so a win here could give them a little advantage early. Conference USA has nine teams, so each team plays four home and four road matches. Due to the unbalanced schedule, you have to win your home matches and get results on the road if you want to have a good chance of winning the league. For the Lobos, the quest for a league championship starts tonight.
Weekly Roundup (9/23/15)
This is our weekly round up which will look at what happened in Lobo Sports in the last week and look ahead to the games and events that the week ahead will have for Lobo Sports. This will not be game previews or game recaps instead it will look at awards awarded to Lobo players, the outcome of games, as well as giving you a one-post location for the week ahead.