UNM’s men’s soccer was unbeaten at home last season and continued to protect home turf with an exhibition win over Air Force on Saturday.
Both teams had stretches in the first half where each controlled the ball, but Air Force and New Mexico played to a dead heat, going into halftime tied 0-0 at the UNM Soccer Complex.
The Falcons struck first, putting an Austin Dewing shot past the goalkeeper at the 61:11 mark to snag a 1-0 advantage over the Lobos.
But the lead was short-lived.
New Mexico notched the equalizer a mere 15 seconds later after Aaron Herrera put freshman Nick Taylor in position to tie things up.
Taylor’s shot made the score 1-1 in the 62nd minute, and New Mexico seemed to find a rhythm after that.
New Mexico went ahead for the first time in the match after another newcomer put the ball into the net. Antoine Vial scored and Noah Bushey assisted on the goal as the Lobos went on top 2-1 at 70:24.
Bushey notched another assist toward the end of the match in the 89th minute, sending the ball to Sam Gleadle to set up the goal. Gleadle, a senior from Chichester, England, tallied the final goal of the match to make the margin 3-1 in favor of the Lobos.
Head coach Jeremy Fishbein seemed to be pleased with the contributions, which were distributed evenly between new and veteran players. However, he also focused on areas to improve upon.
“This was our first exhibition game and there were a lot of positives and a couple of areas we still need to work on,” Fishbein said in a release. “All in all, I’m happy with where we are right now at this point in the beginning of preseason.”
Next up, UNM will square off against the Colorado School of Mines in another exhibition match.
The schools last played against each other in the spring, where Colorado School of Mines ground out a 1-0 victory. New Mexico lost three of the four spring matches it played in the spring, including both of the ones it played at home.
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The Lobos will host the upcoming exhibition match at the UNM Soccer Complex with a scheduled start time of 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 17.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers football and men’s and women’s tennis. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
