There's just something comforting about coming home after a long road trip.
The UNM men's soccer team knows that better than anyone.
The Lobos (13-1-1, 7-1-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) took down the Air Force Falcons (6-8-1, 2-6-0 ) 3-0 on Sunday to win the second of two straight home games after a four-game road trip in which they went 2-1-1.
UNM beat the Denver Pioneers on Thursday, 4-1, to avenge its only loss of the season. That loss came at the hands of the Pioneers, 2-1, Oct. 17 in Denver.
Although most teams would be pleased with that away record, the Lobos' distaste for the four-game skid was apparent when head coach Jeremy Fishbein explained the dip in UNM's performance over the road trip was due to how their away games have been scheduled in the MPSF.
"It's hard see, because this is the one year we are the odd team in the conference that has to play a Thursday-Sunday schedule," he said. "So we have five-day road trips, and we had two of them back-to-back. It was a good challenge to us, because we learned we need to keep our focus over long periods of time."
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Both the tie and the loss blemishing the Lobos' record have come on the Sunday of the Thursday-Sunday schedule Fishbein talked about.
Despite the loss and tie, UNM still sits at No. 2 in the national poll conducted by Soccer America.
The Air Force game was indicative of what UNM has done at home to opposing teams all season. The Lobos outscored their opponents 20-1 this year. They've won all seven home games by an average margin of just under three goals.
UNM sparked the offense in the 34th minute when Jeff Rowland received a ball on the left side of Denver's half. After a quick move, the Lobo forward left Falcon defender Duncan McNabb staring at his backside and trying to catch him as he raced down the touchline.
Rowland played the ball across to Lance Watson, who had slithered his way between the defense to free himself for his sixth goal of the season.
Seven minutes later, a haphazard pass back to the defense by Air Force fed the ball to freshman forward Blake Danaher on a platter. After Falcon goalkeeper Mike Maynard saved his first attempt, Danaher was given another try and found the back of the net.
The two early goals gave Fishbein the chance to let 22 players have a chance at the action and allow the Lobos to be more creative on offense.
"It takes a lot of pressure off our defense," junior captain Brandon Moss said. "Those early goals get you in the right frame of mind to focus on other things than making sure of keeping the shutout."
The Lobos opened the second half with a goal in the 58th minute by Rowland off Hans Bevers' corner kick. The forward headed the ball past Maynard for his nation-leading 17th goal of the season.
"Things seem to just go good for us at home," Fishbein said. "It helps that we had another good performance (Sunday) before we go into the fire Thursday."
That inferno is blazing in San Jose. The Lobos go into Thursday's game against the San Jose State Spartans with a taste of last year's conference final in their mouths.
The Spartans took down UNM 3-2 in a game that was marred by a bench-clearing fracas that left three Lobos and two Spartans ejected.
The win over the Falcons leaves the Lobos in sole possession of first place in the MPSF with three games remaining on their schedule, two of them against the Spartans.
