by Riley Bauling
Daily Lobo
The UNM men's soccer team remained undefeated in its exhibition schedule with a 1-0 win against the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks on Saturday night.
The Lobos peppered the Skyhawks' goal, outshooting them 14-4 before freshman Blake Danaher, Texas Gatorade Player of the Year, scored the game winner in the 74th minute. The assist came from junior Cody Hanna, an Albuquerque native and transfer from the SMU Mustangs.
After Hanna threaded a ball through the defense, Danaher raced to it and beat his defender. After cutting back toward the goal, Danaher deftly placed the ball behind the goalkeeper into the side of the net.
Coming off the bench, Danaher embraced his role as forward for the Lobos. With the rest of the year ahead of them, he said he is confident the season will play out in their favor.
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"It was nice to score that goal," he said. "I'm definitely excited about this season. You're going to see goals."
After a sloppy first half in which the Lobos almost managed to give away an own goal, UNM came out after intermission with something to prove.
Junior Brandon Moss opened up the second half with a blast from about 25 yards out. After a save from Skyhawk goalkeeper Nick Clark, the Lobos soon found themselves in front of the goal thanks to junior Lance Watson's handling on the ball. Watson took the ball out of the air and smoothly placed it around one of his defenders.
Taking the ball calmly at his feet, Watson proceeded to play it to forward Patrick Grange. Grange got the ball back to him at the top of the penalty box, and Watson fired a left-footed shot that, had it not ricocheted painfully off a defender, would have no doubt been a score.
The Lobos' frustration began to show through later in the game as Moss was dealt a yellow card for a hard foul with 21 minutes left in the second half. Soon after Moss's foul, Watson's challenge with 19 minutes remaining was reason enough for the referee to issue the second yellow card of the match.
Although the Lobos won the game, head coach Jeremy Fishbein said he was far from impressed with the Lobos' performance.
"The team's performance wasn't as consistent as we would have liked," he said. "Unfortunately, it still looked like an exhibition. We are going to have to perform better if we are going to beat big teams."
Fishbein got his start in coaching at Fort Lewis. Initially an assistant coach, he was promoted to head coach in 1992. After winning four conference titles and going 74-47-7, he left the program in 1998. He helped establish Fort Lewis as a prominent Division II competitor, and Fishbein said he knows they are not a team to be taken lightly.
"It's always a tough game," he said. "Our guys always seem to take these guys more lightly than they should."
The Lobos took down No. 7 SMU in a penalty-kick shootout on Aug. 22 in their first preseason game. They open the regular season against Delaware University in the Virginia Commonwealth Invite on Friday.
