Saying Friday night will be a big one for the UNM men’s soccer team is an understatement. The final game of the season will decide whether or not the team will make the playoffs.
UNM (7-5-4, 1-4-2 C-USA) will face Florida Atlantic University at 7 p.m. on Senior Night in hopes of getting a spot in this year’s Conference USA tournament. Only the top seven teams in the conference are admitted, and New Mexico is clinging to a spot, currently sitting in seventh place.
UNM has five points — just one more than Marshall University, and two more than FAU. All three teams have one match remaining.
“By definition, yeah, there’s a lot of urgency,” said UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “Season could be over Friday night. But I don’t think that way. Going into every game, we think we are going to win. I sure hope our guys think that way. As a coaching staff, we sure do; that’s our expectation.”
Florida Atlantic (2-11-2, 1-6-0 C-USA) is struggling this season as well. It wasn’t until their 13th match that the Owls finally got a victory, and so far they’ve only recorded two wins. The Owls have struggled in several areas, but mostly on offense. FAU has only scored nine goals this entire season.
Last week Fishbein said his team’s biggest weakness this season has been the attacking third not finishing chances. The Lobos haven’t scored as often as they would’ve liked, but with a total of 19 goals they are statistically doing better than the Owls.
The Owls’ defense is doing slightly better than their offense, but it’s still far from perfect. They’ve allowed 31 goals in 15 games — roughly two goals per match. The Lobos have allowed 17 goals this season, averaging to less than a goal per game.
New Mexico currently checks in with an RPI (rating percentage index) of 38. FAU is farther behind, at the 176th spot.
Although all of the statistics seem to favor the Lobos for Friday’s match, nothing can be taken for granted.
“(The Owls) are going to play hard,” Fishbein said. “I think they’ll probably play a little defensive and look to counter against us. They have nothing to lose in the sense that they are not doing so hot.”
Last year the Lobos fell short of the NCAA Tournament. It was the first time that UNM had missed the tournament since 2008.
If the Lobos don’t make it to the C-USA Championship, their chances of making it to the NCAA Tournament this year will be almost nonexistent.
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But with one game still remaining, New Mexico still has hope. Fishbein says he wants the two seniors on the team, midfielders Josh Dye and Adrian Mora, to finish their college careers on a high note. The seniors share the same attitude.
“Yeah, this is not an ideal situation right now,” Dye said. “But I’m actually really excited for Friday’s game and for the moment itself.”
Isabel Gonzalez is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cisabelg.
