Three goals by three different players gave the Lobos the result they wanted.
The UNM men’s soccer team shut out Loyola Marymount University in a 3-0 victory on Tuesday night.
With the win, New Mexico improved to 7-3 overall. The squad also remains undefeated at home, where it has outscored opponents 13-1 en route to a sterling 6-0 record.
“The end result was a great one — a shutout and three nice goals,” said head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “I thought we opened the game really well. Had some good chances we didn’t finish. We got a little frustrated, maybe forced the game a little bit in the first half.”
The first shot of the night came from the Lobo side. In the 6th minute, forward Niko Hansen took a low shot from the left inside of the box. LMU's goalkeeper, Collin Partee, grabbed it without difficulty.
Two minutes later midfielder Chris Wehan took a header shot from the top of the box. This one went wide.
A minute afterward, the Lions began their attacks and recorded two shots. One was saved by goalkeeper Jason Beaulieu, the other was blocked by the Lobo defense.
Both teams shared possession of the ball during the first half, but neither managed to finish. LMU recorded three shots, while the Lobos recorded five. The only corner kick in the half belonged to the Lobos.
The second period saw more action, especially out of the gate.
In the 48th minute, Lobos defender Nick Rochowski took a header that got cleared off the line. But a minute later, he tried again.
Rochowski took advantage of a corner kick, taken by Josh Goss, and opened up the scoring by sending a header to the top right corner of the net.
“It’s a great feeling, first goal of the season,” Rochowski said, who also had a goal last year against LMU. “It was a fantastic ball by Goss. He put it in the perfect spot.”
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Three minutes later Hansen scored his eighth goal of the season with an assist by defender Tom Smart. Hansen beat the keeper and buried the ball from four yards away.
Three more minutes and LMU would commit a foul, leading to the free kick that allowed defender Aaron Herrera to score the final goal of the night. He sent the ball to the bottom right corner of the net, where the goalkeeper’s hands were able to touch the ball, but not quick enough to fully grab it.
Fishbein said he was happy to see his team’s attacking third finishing plays, and that overall he liked the energy he saw from the entire team in the last 45 minutes of the match.
“Not that we regrouped at halftime. We just identified a couple areas and we were on fire the second half,” Fishbein said. “Three goals in the first 10 minutes. I was really pleased with our second half performance.”
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.
