by Kristie Boudwin
Daily Lobo
UNM can finally guarantee a postseason for one football team this fall.
The men's soccer team clinched the conference title and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament Sunday in an overtime win against Air Force.
Going into the game, three teams were still competing for the conference championship. Though this season's senior class has the highest winning percentage of any class in UNM history, it was not a senior who sealed the deal.
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In the 96th minute, freshman Brandon Barklage set up a shot for sophomore Blake Danaher 10 yards from the goal.
"Barklage is a great freshman," Danaher said. "He just came in with enough confidence to beat a man in the corner and give it to me at the top of the box. I just finished it."
Danaher said this was an exciting win because the underclassmen did not want to lose the last game for a senior class that works so hard.
Both teams played a very physical regulation with 23 fouls.
Head coach Jeremy Fishbein said he was confident UNM would not lose the game. He said Air Force had a lot to play for, because winning the conference was likely Air Force's only chance at postseason play.
"For us, we felt like we were in regardless," Fishbein said.
Fishbein said he wished the Lobos would have taken the lead early in the game because Air Force is clearly capable of playing good defense.
"They defend with big numbers and they are good in the air," Fishbein said. "If you make one mistake or give them enough dead-ball opportunities, they can slip past you and then defend well."
Air Force shut out the Lobos earlier this season when they tied 0-0. The Falcons are the only team to shut out UNM since 2003.
Senior Jeff Rowland said he hoped the Lobos would have clinched the conference title sooner than the overtime period of the last regular season game.
Rowland said the team does not play well against conference opponents, but now they have bigger games to focus on.
"Hopefully our season has just begun," Rowland said. "Hopefully we have five more games."
Fishbein said the Lobos will be playing their postseason with recently injured Lance Watson back on the pitch. Fishbein said Watson was well enough to play Sunday, but he did not want to push it.
The NCAA selection committee will decide on seeding and home-field advantage this week.
After being last year's 13th seed in the tournament, Fishbein said he is hoping for a higher one this year.
"All we can say at this point is we hope we get a top-eight seed," Fishbein said. "We didn't have the strength of schedule last year as we did this year and the conference didn't fare as well last year."
Fishbein said he expects his team to come to play when the NCAA tournament starts.
"Whoever we get in here next is somebody hopefully who hasn't played here before and we get a big crowd," Fishbein said. "Our guys are going to be ready for some good challenges."
