The celebration has been put on hold and the preparation has begun for the UNM men's soccer team as it gears up for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Lobos have been off for 10 days since pulling off a shocking run through the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
"It's been a lot of fun," head coach Klaus Weber said. "It's sort of the pinnacle of any career; to bring a program to that level where they are considered one of the better teams."
UNM's success has brought some extra exposure to the program.
"The team is very happy they got recognition," Weber said. "They got introduced at the basketball game. So I think the recognition level has gone up considerably, and I think they deserve that."
Although the Lobos have enjoyed their newfound celebrity status, Weber said the team is still very focused on it's upcoming game.
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"I think we are looking good," Weber said. "You can never say exactly when you validate practice how the real game conditions and the game readiness prevails, but what we see right now we are very happy. The guys are really ready."
UNM will be preparing to play Florida International University in Dallas in the first round of the tournament on Friday. The Golden Panthers received an at-large bid to the tournament and are playing their best soccer of late. They have won seven of the last nine games, with both losses occurring in double-overtime.
Junior midfielder Matais Asorey, who leads the team with eight goals and three assists, leads FIU. The Golden Panthers also have sophomore forward Ezequiel Romero, who has four goals and two assists.
"They have a great attacking midfielder; a playmaker, a go to man," Weber said. "They have some speed on the flanks. We have to make sure we don't open a lot of space for them, close them down real fast and don't give them the options."
Sophomore goalkeeper Roy Rosenburg anchors the defense for Florida International. He has allowed 13 goals in 15 games for a 1.04 average and averages 3.7 saves per game.
"They like to play the ball, we like to play the ball; so it is going to be a good match-up," senior forward Ty Hibbert said.
If the Lobos win and advance to the second round they will play No. 1-ranked and number-one seeded SMU Sunday.
However, because of their improbable run nearly two weeks ago in the conference tournament, the Lobos know that anything is possible.
UNM was seeded eighth in the MPSF Tournament and won three straight games against higher seeded teams to earn an automatic-bid to the tournament. The feat was even more remarkable considering UNM went into the tournament winless in conference regular season play at 0-6-1, 3-11-2 overall.
Then a funny thing happened to UNM on the way to a first round exit in the conference tournament. The Lobos transformed into a potent offensive machine and started dominating teams defensively. After giving up two goals in the first five minutes to Sacramento State University, UNM rallied on defense to shut down its three opponents and start an impressive streak - 289 minutes without allowing a goal.
"What really helped was the scoring because it puts less pressure on us to keep a tight 0-0 game for the whole game," senior defender Ivan Wilson said. "Plus it gives us momentum. It is like when the opposite team is down, it makes the other team more predictable and we know what they are going to do in the game. We can play more as a unit in the back. It is easier to play with a lead."
UNM scored seven goals in the three games and Hibbert, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, scored three goals and dished out two assists.
"The whole team played more as a unit and that created more opportunities, which created more goals," Hibbert said. "The forwards and midfielders, the guys who scored, just put their chances away. We had opportunities in the regular season, we just weren't finishing."
Now that the Lobos are playing well, their faith in their ability has soared.
"Finally we have confidence and that is a big thing," Wilson said. "Its hard when you just have a few players with confidence on the team, but when you have the whole team believing in each other you get more unity."
With the Lobos finishing their season with a bang, Weber said the program, which struggled the past several years, would continue to improve.
"It's going to change a lot of things; it's going to make recruiting easier for us," Weber said. "We get a lot of exposure and that never hurts a program. So, I think the benefits are going to be there and also the payoffs are going to be there."
