The New Mexico men’s soccer team has to survive one more road match to hold onto its hopes of advancing into postseason play.
A tie or a loss doesn’t necessarily end the season, but an outright victory would keep them in the mix for the conference tourney.
The Lobos are traveling to Birmingham, Alabama to take on the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers on Wednesday night. The fall season hasn’t been the best for the Lobos when it comes to playing on the road — New Mexico has only taken the victory in one road match in seven attempts this season.
With four points, the Lobos sit in seventh place in the Conference-USA standings, the same place they were last week before their 2-2 double overtime tie in Albuquerque against the Marshall Thundering Herd.
With that draw, the Lobos remained undefeated at home. However, UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein said the result felt like a loss. The Lobos gave up leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the contest.
In the last five games, the Lobos scraped out one win while suffering three losses and one draw.
New Mexico spent most of October playing out of town and Fishbein said his team needs some time to recover and get its focus back.
“It’s been a tough road. Three overtime games in probably, what...eight days? (The players) are exhausted,” he said.
However, he is not blaming the results on playing so many road matches. He said the team knew what they signed up for when playing in Conference-USA and there’s no reason they shouldn’t experience the same success they've had in the past.
“It’s not fair to let ourselves off the hook and look for excuses,” he said. “This is a good team. We have the ability to be good every day. We travel well, there’s no excuses.”
To get into the conference tournament, the Lobos need to end the season as one of the top seven teams.
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The Blazers have a 6-6-3 overall record and are 2-3-1 in the conference. They sit in fifth place with seven points.
When they faced off last year, New Mexico took down UAB 3-2. Two of the goals for the Lobos came from midfielder Francesco Casucci, who is no longer with the team, and junior forward Sam Gleadle added the third. The two goals for UAB came from Ian Svantesson and Freddy Ruiz, both of whom graduated last year.
This season, the Blazers’ offense has recorded 157 shots and scored 15 goals. Their defense has allowed opponents the same amount of goals, but more opportunities with a total of 188 shots. The team averages one goal scored and one goal allowed per game.
The Lobos have stronger numbers on both sides. The New Mexico offense has now recorded 209 shots and 21 goals, on average of 1.5 goals per game. The defense has allowed 127 shots, and 13 goals. That amounts to less than one goal allowed per game by a stout defense.
Fishbein said his team has every chance to be successful, it’s just a matter of moving forward.
“We have to recover first and foremost,” he said. “Find some positives, and we have to correct the things that we aren’t doing well enough. Then prepare for the next one. It’s brutal right now.”
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.
