Staff report
The UNM men's soccer team goes back on the road this weekend hoping to keep its unbeaten streak intact.
The Lobos face a pair of Big West Conference schools - California State University at Fullerton and the University of California at Irvine. UNM plays the Titans (2-3-2) Sunday afternoon and the Anteaters (4-2-1) Tuesday night.
The Lobos continue to ride their record-setting 8-0-0 start, gaining nine points this week in Soccer Times top 25 poll, one of two polls recognized by the NCAA. UNM remained ranked fifth in the national Soccer Coaches Association of America's Midwest region. It also held steady at 28th in the CollegeSoccerNews.com top 30 poll.
The ranking is the highest held by the Lobos in any poll since Soccer America ranked them 17th in 1992.
UNM's successful season continued last weekend when the Lobos defeated Georgia State University 4-1 and Southwest Missouri State University 1-0 in the Lobo Invitational.
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Four Lobos - freshman Lance Watson, sophomore Danny Bills, senior Junro Narita and junior Stian Eriksen - made the invite's All-Tournament team. Watson, a forward, was named offensive MVP while defender Bills was named defensive MVP.
UNM will need similar play from those four as well as freshman forward Ben Ashwill and sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Weber to win against Cal State Fullerton and Cal-Irvine.
The Titans are led by leading scorer Hector Orellana, who has five goals for the season and goalkeeper Sam Reynolds, who has allowed 12 goals this year in five games. He has 24 saves.
Two of Cal State Fullerton's three losses have come to two teams ranked in the NSCAA poll - fourth-ranked University of California at Los Angeles and 11th-ranked University of San Diego. The third loss came to the University of Santa Clara, which is ranked 24th in the Soccer America poll.
Cal-Irvine is led by Dardo Acuna, Kyle Close and Lerato Simelane. The trio has each scored two goals on the season. The Anteaters' goalkeeper, Cameron Rossi, has allowed 12 goals this season and has recorded three shutouts.
All but one of Cal-Irvine's losses came at the hands of ranked opponents, including a 2-1 loss to San Diego Wednesday.
The team's lone loss to a non-ranked opponent was to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation member San Jose State, which shut out the Anteaters' 1-0.
UNM's next home match is Oct. 6 versus the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
Lobo notes: The Lobos are 16th in the nation in scoring with an average of 2.75 goals-per-game and 13th in defense with a 0.62 goals-against-average.
Freshman Ben Ashwill is tied for third in the NCAA for most goals scored with eight and leads the MPSF in points with 17.
Fellow frosh Lance Watson and sophomore Eric Carlson lead the conference in assist with four each.
Sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Weber is 13th in the NCAA with a 0.63 goals-against-average and has three shutouts this year.
