Ever since last year's bench-clearing brawl, the UNM men's soccer team has had a bad taste in its mouth.
The San Jose State Spartans took the Lobos down 3-2 during last year's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation final in a game highlighted by the ejection of three UNM players and two Spartans.
UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein said the team doesn't dwell on the past, but one can't help but sense a hint of revenge in the air after UNM's 5-1 drubbing of San Jose State last night.
The Lobos wasted no time getting on the board first in the 26th minute when junior captain Brandon Moss took a pass from senior Jeff Krause. From a near impossible angle, Moss managed to slip the ball behind Spartan goalkeeper Daniel Benton, giving UNM a 1-0 lead.
UNM came back for seconds five minutes later when senior Hans Bevers was on the receiving end of a pass played by freshman Blake Danaher. Danaher wove around Spartan defenders as if they were cones in his driver's license test before giving the ball off to Bevers, who placed the ball into the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
One minute later, Bevers crossed a ball to Andrew Boyens for a header that Boyens put past a diving Benton for his second goal of the season.
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Senior Patrick Grange chipped Benton from 35 yards out to net his fifth goal of the season in the 68th minute.
The Spartans did save a shred of their dignity. Tim McKinney scored on Lobo goalkeeper Andrew Weber to upset the shutout.
With 30 seconds left in the game, UNM stole one more goal before packing its things up. Erik Bagwell scored his second goal of the season off an assist from junior Ben Gantenbein.
The offensive onslaught capped a start the Lobos know they will need coming down the home stretch of conference play. UNM plays Sacramento State on Sunday. A win for the Lobos in that game will lock up first place in the MPSF and a coveted trip to the NCAA tournament at the end of the season.
"We know we've got to come out and take care of business in Sunday's game now," Fishbein said. "It's always nice to play up to our potential, and right now we are doing that, and it's why we are winning."
And winning they are. The Lobos are 14-1-1 and 8-1-1 in the MPSF, good enough to put them 10 points ahead of second-place Denver.
Things aren't all peaches and cream however.
"That one goal we gave up (against San Jose State) could be the difference in losing close games," Moss said. "We have to keep the shutout and stop letting up even a little."
