UNM's soccer programs move a bit closer to regular season this weekend with scrimmages home and away.
The Mountain West Conference also recently announced its preseason coaches' poll for women's soccer, placing the Lobos fifth in the seven-team league.
Women's Soccer: The Lobos were picked to finish fifth in the MWC in a conference coaches' poll released Aug. 16. The Lobos received 20 points, placing them above the Air Force Academy and the University of Wyoming.
Four-time MWC champion Brigham Young University was the overwhelming preseason pick for first. The Cougars garnered 36 points and six first place votes.
Following BYU was the University of Utah, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and San Diego State University.
Seventeen letter winners and 10 starters return to UNM, including All-MWC players Michelle Longmire, Nicole McCarty and Erchen Theys. Also, second-year head coach Kit Vela was selected as MWC coach of the year for the 2001 season. The Lobos finished second in the MWC in 2001 with a 3-2-1 record in conference, 4-12-2 overall.
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The Lobos start the 2002 season with a scrimmage against UNM soccer alumni Saturday at 2 p.m. at the UNM Soccer Complex. UNM starts the regular season Aug. 30 against Big 12 Conference champions the University of Texas.
Men's Soccer: The Lobos kicked off their 2002 season Saturday, Aug. 17 with a 2-0 exhibition win over Yavapai Junior College at the UNM Soccer Complex. Freshmen Ricky Francis and Eric Bagwell both scored for UNM, while sophomore goalkeepers Andrew Weber and Josef Bachmeier combined on the score the shutout.
The Lobos controlled the action in the first half, but were unable to score. UNM managed four shots on goal, two by senior captain Javier Carrasco, while holding Yavapai to a sole shot on goal in the first half.
UNM scored its first goal in the 67th minute on a redirection of a cross during a corner kick. The corner kick goal was set up when Yavapai goalie Stephen O'Farrell deflected a shot by Lobo sophomore Itzik Rapaport.
On the ensuing corner kick, sophomore Stacy Lofton placed a prefect cross into the 18-yard box for Francis, who headed the ball in for the goal.
Lofton, a transfer from the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, is a former New Mexico Player-of-the-Year, as if Francis.
Bagwell, a redshirt freshman, added the second goal in the 76th minute with a floating chip-shot 20 yards from the goal, catching O'Farrell off-guard.
The Lobos ended the game with 18 shots to Yavapai's 15. Yavapai dominated in corner kicks, eight to five - seven in the second half. But Yavapai only managed to pressure UNM goalies into three saves, while O'Farrell had to make seven.
Lobo midfielder Eric Carlson and forward Francis both picked up yellow cards in the second half.
UNM plays its final exhibition of the season Sunday at Division II Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo.
The Lobos open the season Aug. 30 in Las Vegas, Nev. against the University of Northern Illinois. UNM's home opener is Sept. 13 against California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo.
Staff Report
