For the third time this season, mistakes in the 18-yard box haunted the UNM men’s soccer team.
The Lobos fell 2-1 to Charlotte on Saturday night after two first-half penalties by the 49ers.
This type of situation is nothing new for the Lobos, who dropped their first two matches of the 2016 fall season 1-0 due to penalty kicks.
With the loss, New Mexico is now 7-4 overall and 1-2 in Conference USA. Charlotte improved to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in conference.
Prior to Saturday’s loss, the Lobos had not allowed opponents more than one goal in a single match this season.
“Pretty disappointing loss,” said head coach Jeremy Fishbein in a statement. “Gotta open well on the road. Something to learn from. I was happy with the guys’ reaction.”
Senior forward Niko Hansen looked for an early goal when he sent a header into the 49ers net in the fifth minute. Hansen’s attempt was saved by Charlotte’s Elliot Panicco.
Less than two minutes later, Marco Sunol-Rojas took a shot for the 49ers but Lobo goalkeeper Jason Beaulieu made the save.
In the 15th minute however, Beaulieu received a yellow card from a slide tackle, which gave Charlotte its first penalty kick of the night.
Senior midfielder Brandt Bronico scored from this opportunity. Bronico is a familiar face to the Lobos, as he scored a goal against them last year when Charlotte took a 2-0 victory.
The second penalty of the night came in the 35th minute. Bronico once again took the shot, converting it into his third goal of the season.
The first period ended with the Lobos having a slight 4-3 edge in shots and 5-2 in corner kicks.
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“Not a good first half,” Fishbein said. “Two PKs off mistakes, that was pretty disappointing. To the guys’ credit, we challenged them at halftime.”
The Lobos got on the scoreboard in the 56th minute when Hansen netted his ninth goal of the season thanks to a through ball by midfielder Devin Boyce.
Midfielder Chris Wehan was trying to convert from a free kick in the 76th minute, but Panicco stopped it from becoming the equalizer.
“We had a real good second half. Got an early one, made a couple pushes, but weren’t able to find the second,” Fishbein said.
The match ended with each side recording seven shots and New Mexico leading 6-4 in corner kicks. There was a total of five yellow cards, four of those belonging to the Lobos.
New Mexico will be back on the East Coast next week when they play the Florida Atlantic University Owls on Saturday.
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.
