After a 4-1 Conference USA win over Florida International University on Friday, the No. 23 New Mexico men’s soccer team is taking a break from conference play Tuesday to host the Loyola Marymount University Lions.
Conference match or not, head coach Jeremy Fishbein said the Lobos won’t be taking this one lightly.
“(LMU) is a really good team. We are going to approach it like we want to win,” he said. “We have to be at our best. We have to be rested, excited and put another one together for 90 minutes.”
Last year, the Lobos took down the Lions 2-1. New Mexico was trailing 1-0 during the first half, but a pair of second-half goals by defender Nick Rochowski and midfielder Chris Wehan gave UNM the victory.
That was the first loss of the 2015 fall season for the Lions, who had won all five of their previous matches. LMU was ranked No. 19 at the time, and UNM sat at No. 21.
The Lions are currently 6-4 overall and have a 3-2 road record. They are coming to Albuquerque with back-to-back wins — a 4-3 victory over then-No. 17 UC Santa Barbara (5-5-1, 1-0-1 Big West), and a 1-0 overtime win against San Jose State (1-8-2, 0-1-1 WAC).
New Mexico lost its C-USA opener 1-0 to the Kentucky Wildcats (6-2-2, 2-1 C-USA), then rebounded to get their victory over FIU (3-5-1, 1-2-0 C-USA). Before the loss to Kentucky, UNM was riding a five-game winning streak.
Both LMU and New Mexico (6-3, 1-1 MW) have similar statistics when it comes to the attacking third.
Each team is coming in with 13 goals recorded this season. New Mexico has had a total of 127 shots, while LMU almost matches this stat with 122 shots. The Lobos edge the Lions 56-42 in corner kicks.
But when it comes to defending, New Mexico looks better on paper.
The Lobos have only allowed opponents a total of five goals this season, while the Lions have allowed twice that amount. New Mexico has held opponents to a total of 86 shots. LMU has allowed 140.
Fishbein said he is happy with the way his team has been performing and that he expects to see a good result against the Lions.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
“I like where we are at right now. We are healthy, we are hungry and we are scoring some goals,” he said.
But Fishbein doesn’t want his team to become complacent.
“The key is, can you keep on pushing, can you keep getting better? Can you get that hunger in you?” he said.
Tuesday’s match is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the UNM Soccer Complex.
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.
