It's lonely at the top for the UNM men's soccer team.
UNM begins the season with six straight wins, most recently against Indiana University, which was No.1. The Lobos are carrying a No. 5 national ranking and have at least three more wins than any other team in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
UNM will take on San Diego State on Thursday in its conference opener. SDSU (1-6-0) is coming off its first win of the season against UNLV.
The Lobos' preconference schedule has not been an easy one. Three of their six wins have been come-from-behind victories.
The Lobos' penchant for success this season has garnered national attention, said junior and team captain Brandon Moss.
"Our wins so far this season have put us on the national college soccer map," he said. "We just want to come out and have the same confidence we had in the Indiana game that we can beat any team we play."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
With wins against such high-caliber teams, it will be difficult to avoid overconfidence coming into conference play, Moss said. One of those wins came against the preseason No. 13 team in the country, Virginia Commonwealth University. Earlier this season, the Lobos also disposed of a Cal State-Northridge team that embarrassed them 4-0 in 2003.
"We have won some games that have separated us from the rest of the conference," Moss said. "But if we come out with too much confidence, we are going to fall. A lot of teams go down that way, and it can happen to anyone."
Moss said Lobos will have a target on them for the remainder of the season.
"We've played some great games so far this season and come through in all of them," he said. "But wins against teams like Indiana aren't going to mean anything if we can't even win our own conference."
While this year's campaign has played out in the Lobos' favor so far, they still have much to prove after last season's losing record and season-ending debacle.
UNM fell to San Jose State in the MPSF-conference finals in a 3-2 game that was highlighted by its multitude of goals and a bench-clearing brawl that left three Lobos ejected from the game with red cards.
Head coach Jeremy Fishbein said the goal for the team has been set since the end of last season.
"We want to win the conference," he said. "That's our only goal right now. We're in a good situation right now, because we are going to have to learn how to play as the team that everyone is trying to beat."
After last season's failure to reach the post-season, the Lobos are eager to get their hands on the NCAA berth awarded to the conference champion. Fishbein said he is looking at the conference schedule as a level playing field.
"Not one team is the class of the conference," he said. "We don't have a single win in conference yet, so we have a lot to prove to everyone and ourselves."
