The UNM men’s soccer team is back in home territory this weekend for another spring match, this time against the Colorado School of Mines.
The Lobos are coming off a 2-1 loss to the Air Force Falcons, which happened last Saturday during their first home game of the spring season.
The game was originally scheduled to be played in Taos but a last minute change allowed the Lobos to play at the Robertson Practice Facility, their usual practice field.
New Mexico is currently seeing a pattern that repeats ones and twos. Each of the three spring games so far has seen a 2-1 result. Prior to Saturday’s match, the Lobos had picked up a loss at Southern Methodist and a win against Grand Canyon University, which means they now hold a 1-2 record.
On Saturday, it took a while before the Lobos got warmed up. The Falcons were much quicker when it came to finding results.
Just six minutes in, a counter attack led to the Falcons getting a 1-0 lead. The Lobos were not able to respond right away, not finding a clear chance until much later.
Around the 20-minute mark, things started to look better. UNM’s Aaron Herrera got ahold of the ball and took a shot from 25 yards out. However, this shot was easily stopped by the Falcon goalkeeper.
New Mexico saw a few more chances and eventually found the equalizer during the 42-minute mark. This led to the first half ending in a 1-1 draw.
But it didn’t last very long.
Less than five minutes into the second 45-minute period, the Falcons once again found themselves on top. New Mexico saw a few different guys get close to finding the equalizer including Rafa Jimenez, Luke Lawrence and Simon Spangenberg. Unfortunately, their efforts were not enough.
Lawrence, a junior forward, said although he and his teammates never play with the intent to lose a game, they see spring games more as a learning experience.
“Just taking something from these games, learning from them and being able to fix our errors for the fall, for the games that really matter,” he said.
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The Lobos are hoping to get a chance to improve their record this weekend when they take on the Mines.
The Mines finished their fall season with a 10-6-3 overall record and 9-3-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
During the fall season, the Colorado School of Mines found its strength in the offense and the defense, scoring 42 goals, averaging 2.21 goals per game, and only allowing opponents 15, which turned into a stat of less than one goal per game at 0.79.
After this game, the Lobos will hit the road for one more match to close their spring season.
“The seniors are gone so it’s an adjustment period,” Lawrance said. “But it’s been really good so far.”
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.
