The University of New Mexico men’s soccer team did its best to weather the storm against No. 23 Tulsa, but came up short in a 2-1 loss in double overtime.
New Mexico’s record fell to 2-3 on the season after dropping a pair of one-goal matches on its road trip, while Tulsa improved to 3-1-1.
"Tonight was a tough one, the guys really battled and they really played well," head coach Jeremy Fishbein said in a release. "To our guys' credit, we opened the second half strong and tied up the game. We had better chances in the second half, but we had two really good ones we didn't finish.”
The Golden Hurricane applied the early pressure, putting two shots on net in the first five minutes of the game, and continued to apply pressure throughout the first half of the game before opening the scoring in the 43’ minute when sustained possession finally turned into a goal, as Gilles Kuhler finished off of assists from Chase Bromstedt and Devon Sutton to give Tulsa a 1-0 that it would hold to the half. At the half, the Golden Hurricane lead in shots 8-2, a pattern that would repeat throughout the night.
The Lobos answered in the 47th minute when freshman Omar Grey scored his third goal of the season off of an assist from Tom Smart that deflected off a defender before Grey slotted it in. UNM put a few more balls on net in the second half, but were still badly outshot by a total of 5-12, but Lobos goalkeeper Ford Parker finished with five saves in the half to help force overtime.
In the first overtime period, the Lobos kept things in the shot category more even, being outshot 3-2. Tulsa had the first chance of the period with a corner kick in the fifth minute, but Parker was able to save the header.
Nick Taylor answered with a shot of his own roughly 30 seconds later that sailed high, before Tulsa responded with a pair of shots two minutes later, including one that force a save from Parker.
Tulsa had two more corner kicks before the end of the period but were unable to put another shot on goal before the end of the first overtime period.
In the second overtime, Tulsa dominated after an early offsides call on the Lobos. The Golden Hurricane forced a save from Parker. Shortly after, a yellow card on Nick Taylor was followed by the game winning goal from Adam Habib from 15-yards out off an assist from Harris Partain.
The Lobos will return to action UC Santa Barbara at home on Tuesday, September 11 at 7 p.m.
Cameron Goeldner is a sports beat reporter and photographer for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s soccer, women’s basketball, softball and the Albuquerque Isotopes, but also contributes content for baseball, basketball, football and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @goeldfinger.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
