After a two-year absence, the Lobos are ready to compete in the NCAA Tournament once again.
“Hopefully I gave the impression that I believed in this team, and that I expected to be playing,” head coach Jeremy Fishbein said.
The team made it into the tournament after winning the program’s first ever Conference USA Championship on Sunday. The Lobos took down last year’s victors, the FIU Panthers, by a score of 3-0.
The resounding win also increased the team’s RPI to 21, a huge jump from its previous RPI of 40.
“We went to that tournament to win it, one game at a time, and we did it,” Fishbein said. “We beat some quality teams. I’m proud of our guys. It kind of validates the leadership and the quality.”
The last time the Lobos played in the NCAA Tournament was in 2013, when they made it all the way to the Final Four.
”The older guys kind of grew up in the shadow of the last team that made it to the Final Four, so I think they always kind of had that weight on their back,” Fishbein said.
New Mexico (12-6-2, 4-3-1 C-USA) is kicking off this year’s tournament by hosting the Portland Pilots. The Lobos might be hungry for a win, but their first-round opponents have seen an even longer drought, making their first tournament appearance since 2009.
Portland (12-5-1, 6-1-0 West Coast Conference) clinched the WCC’s automatic NCAA bid after winning the conference championship with a 1-0 victory over the Saint Mary’s Gaels.
The 2016 season has been a good one for the Pilots. The conference championship was their sixth title in program history, but the first since 2002. Earlier this season, the team enjoyed a seven-match winning streak, its longest streak since 1995.
Portland has found the back of the net 36 times with 205 shot attempts, and forward Benji Michel leads the team with 10 goals.
New Mexico has recorded significantly more shots, 279, but has scored three fewer goals, a total of 33. The Lobos are led by forward Niko Hansen’s 13 goals, followed closely by midfielder Chris Wehan’s eight.
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Both teams’ defenses look very similar on paper. The Pilots’ defense has 18 goals on 186 shots to opponents, while the Lobos have allowed their opponents 17 goals on 182 shots.
When the two teams met in 2010, then-No.18 Portland took a 2-1 victory over the Lobos. That match also took place in Albuquerque.
But a lot has happened in six years, and the Lobos have yet to lose a home game this season, holding a 9-0-1 record.
“It’s good to be home. You just feel so appreciated locally,” Fishbein said.
The Lobos haven’t lost a match in their last seven games and have come out on top in their last six matches. Five of these results were wins in regulation time, with the other coming by way of penalty kicks.
The winner of Thursday night’s game will go on to play the Washington Huskies, who received a first-round bye after earning the No. 11 seed in the tourney. The game gets underway at the UNM Soccer Complex at 7 p.m.
Isabel Gonzalez is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. She primarily covers men’s soccer and basketball. She can be reached at sports @dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cisabelg.
