The UNM men's soccer team lost its conference opener to cellar-dwellers UNLV 0-2 Saturday night at the UNM Soccer Complex.
It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Lobos.
After losing to six nationally ranked teams, UNM was looking forward to a fresh start of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference. Head coach Jeremy Fishbein said Saturday was supposed to be the beginning of a new season.
"That was what we had planned," Fishbein said. "We felt pretty well-prepared before the game, but we didn't come out to play in the first half. We played a good team tonight that was hungry."
Although the Rebels are in the cellar of the MPSF, they are the only conference team that beat UNM last season.
With Saturday's win, the Rebels broke a three-game losing streak. They were coming off a 4-1 loss to UC-Riverside two weeks ago. The long rest paid off for UNLV.
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Midfielder Victor Arbelaez struck first for the Rebels off a cross from Alex Hernandez. Arbelaez fired from the top right of the box and got the shot past UNM goalkeeper Andrew Weber in the 22nd minute to give UNLV the early lead.
The Lobos were able to get in some shots from forward Ben Ashwill and midfielder Stian Eriksen but none were successful.
After officials called a series of fouls on both teams, UNM's Ashwill received a yellow card in the 38th minute.
Shortly after, the Lobos lost freshman midfielder Robbie CdeBaca after he was issued a red card.
UNLV was called for 17 fouls, while the Lobos committed five throughout the game.
The second half did not start in the Lobos' favor either.
UNLV scored its second goal 12 minutes after intermission, from the foot of midfielder Rod Dyachenko. It was Dyachenko's 13th goal of the season.
Minutes after the score, UNM's only senior, Eriksen, came off the field pressing an ice pack to his head. Lobo trainers treated the gash on the forehead and carted Eriksen to the locker room. The midfielder would not return to the game.
UNM picked up some intensity in the final 22 minutes of the match, attempting 10 shots and six cornerkicks.
The Lobos attempted 18 total shots on the night.
"We didn't pick up our play until the second half," forward Lance Watson said. "We started to have some chances in the second half, and we just didn't finish. Whenever you don't finish, the other team gets some good opportunities, and we have to battle back from that."
Watson leads the Lobos in scoring with five goals so far this season.
Fishbein said the Lobos will not be defeated by the losing streak.
"It's pretty discouraging," he said. "But we're not going to bow down by any means. Our goal is still to win the conference tournament, and we keep making it harder and harder on ourselves."
The Lobos travel to Colorado this week to face Air Force on Friday and Denver University Sunday. In order to win, Watson said UNM must play with heart and hunger.
"We come into these games, and we play with heart," he said. "But we're not hungry for the win. I'm very confident in my team. It's just a matter of putting things together the whole 90 minutes."
