The Lobos managed to stay undefeated at home on Saturday, but it wasn’t necessarily the result they were looking for.
New Mexico hosted the Marshall Thundering Herd, battling through two overtimes over 110 minutes to end in a 2-2 draw.
“Tough one today,” said head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “Third overtime game in a row. We had a 1-0 lead, then 2-1. We slipped up. We made some little mental mistakes.”
The Lobos took control of the match outshooting Marshall (6-8-1,1-3-1 C-USA) 27-9, and leading 10-3 in corner kicks. Unfortunately for them, the final score didn’t show that domination.
“It’s pretty disappointing,” Fishbein said. “For the vast majority of the game we played well, controlled the ball. The game played out like we thought it would... There were no surprises.“
Following the contest, the Lobos now stand at 7-6-1, (1-3-1 Conference USA). Their home record stands at 6-0-1. New Mexico had hoped to vault in the standings by picking up three points for a win, but still earned one point for the tie.
The Lobos took the first shot of the match in the 16th minute. From inside of the box, defender Matthew Constant sent a header shot, but it was too high.
A little over two minutes later, Marshall had its first opportunity when midfielder Daniel Jodah took a shot from the top of the box. His shot was blocked by the Lobo defense.
There were a total of 10 shots recorded in the first half, seven belonging to New Mexico. The Lobos recorded all four of the corner kicks in this half.
Both teams ratcheted up the action in the second half.
The first goal of the day came from New Mexico midfielder Matt Dorsey when he shot from the left side in the 53rd minute.
The Thundering Herd caught up eight minutes later thanks to a goal by midfielder Jacob Purpero. This ball was sent high and just out of the grasp of Lobo goalkeeper Jason Beaulieu to grasp.
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“The first goal—that was kind of a fluky one. It was a crazy deflection and then hit their guy and went in,” Fishbein said. “But you have to prevent that initial ball.”
The Lobos took the lead once again in the 71st minute, when midfielder Chris Wehan netted his fourth goal of the season after receiving a pass from defender Chris Gurule.
Once again, Marshall found the equalizer in the 85th minute when midfielder Rudy Erwin took a clear shot from the top of the 18. He buried the ball deep into the left side of the Lobo net.
That goal, Fishbein said, came from careless defending.
“We gave them an opening. We had a clear clearance, gave them a throw-in deep in our half and they finished a chance,” he said.
Neither team was able to find the game-winner. The two overtime periods went by with a total of nine shots, seven of those from the Lobos.
“We only have ourselves to blame. The tie today feels like a loss,” Fishbein continued.
The Lobos will be on the road once again next week as they travel to Birmingham, Alabama to take on the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers (6-5-3, 2-2-1 C-USA) on Wednesday night.
Isabel Gonzalez is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. She mainly covers men’s soccer and basketball. She can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cisabelg.
