Kristie Boudwin
Daily Lobo
Cary, N.C. - The UNM men's soccer team is one win away from the most coveted position in college soccer.
Unfortunately Clemson's head coach, Trevor Adair, didn't think the Lobos earned it.
Adair said there was a lot of play by the UNM team that is not good for the game of soccer.
"I think better soccer did not win the game tonight," he said. "I think the better team did not win."
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UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein said the Lobos pride themselves in being a team with skillful players. That was not demonstrated against Clemson, he said. For the first game of the tournament, Fishbein said the game could have gone either way.
"To be honest we really didn't play like we like to play, or play our best," Fishbein said. "On the night, they probably played a little bit better soccer."
Regardless of who played better soccer, the Lobos ended the Cinderella story for the Clemson Tigers. Clemson was one of two teams in the final eight and the final four that was not a seeded team coming into the tournament.
Fishbein said the team watched two tapes of Clemson and saw that the Lobos had some things that would be hard for the Tigers to match. One of those things was set pieces, which made up both of the Lobos' goals.
Freshman midfielder Brandon Barklage scored the first goal off a throw-in from Lance Watson flicked on to him by Andrew Boyens.
"All three coaches have been stating how important it is to be at that back post whenever those long throw-ins are coming in from Lance Watson," Barklage said. "I felt like I haven't been there this season as much as I needed to."
Barklage's goal was the first Clemson goalkeeper Phil Marfuggi let in during the entire tournament.
Clemson responded later in the first half off a corner kick, but could not respond a second time to Andrew Boyens' header into the net in the second half. In addition to his goal, Boyens said he was proud to lead the attacking defense.
"I think we pride ourselves on being a physical team and not in a dirty way," Boyens said.
Though many players spent some time lying on the field writhing in pain, UNM goalkeeper Mike Graczyk's injury stopped the clock the longest as trainers bandaged his bleeding head in the 83rd minute of the game.
"I just slid out for the ball, and the guy came through afterward and kicked me in the back of the head," Graczyk said.
Graczyk said he got to the ball several seconds before the opponent and Clemson's Dane Richards had plenty of time to stop before the collision.
"It's part of the game, that's how it goes," Graczyk said. "Sometimes it's not always pretty, like it was tonight. I don't think we are a dirty team, but we are a physical team. The fact is that we get to play on Sunday."
Fishbein said the team will prepare differently for Sunday's game against Maryland than they did for the Clemson team. He said they will focus on the Lobos' strengths instead of Maryland.
Boyens said it will be a tough game, but New Mexico has what it takes.
"We know they are a powerful team. It's going to take something special to beat them, but we have something special in us," Boyens said. "So hopefully we can pull it out on Sunday."
New Mexico will play Maryland for the NCAA championship title on Sunday. The game will be televised on ESPN2 at noon.
