by Riley Bauling
Daily Lobo
One fan following the 1-0 overtime win on Saturday night by the UNM men's soccer team got his or her hands on a sweaty, but very lucky jersey.
Senior Jeff Rowland scored the game-winning goal in the 91st minute for the No. 2-seeded Lobos against 15th-seeded California State-Northridge, and immediately tore his jersey and undershirt off before being mobbed on the field by some of the record 4,849 fans who attended the game.
Next thing Rowland knew, the jersey and the lucky undershirt he's worn for all of his 44 goals in college had been nabbed.
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The senior forward didn't really care much after the game, as he described what happened with an ear-to-ear grin.
After all, he scored a goal in his second straight NCAA tournament game to send the Lobos to their first ever Elite Eight appearance against seventh-seeded California-Berkeley on Friday at 7 p.m., and he's still got the lucky moustache he and roommate Andrew Boyens decided to grow for the tournament, he said.
"I was so excited and both of my things got stolen," Rowland said. "I had an Underarmor (shirt) that I've worn for four straight years - my good-luck charm."
It looked like Rowland's good-luck charms weren't going to be enough as the forward blasted five shots in regulation, but couldn't find the back of the net.
UNM donned its body armor with 24 minutes gone in the first half and shouldered a blow when Sean Franklin took a through ball and wiggled his way through the UNM defense.
Lobo goalkeeper Mike Graczyk raced off his line and thwarted the one-on-one attempt, but was left sprawled on the field after the save as the ball popped out to Daniel Paladini.
Paladini launched a shot at the wide-open goal, but Lobo defender Andrew Boyens made the most of his 6-foot-3-inch frame and deflected the ball over the crossbar with his head.
"I had no idea Boyens was back there," Graczyk said. "I think after that, the crowd just fed off us. It was just ridiculous."
Crowd or not, the Lobos dodged another bullet when Northridge's Willie Sims shook himself free for a breakaway 10 minutes into the second half.
UNM defender Josh Brown tried to make a play on the ball, but was too far behind Sims to get a foot on it.
Instead, Brown made contact with Sims and sent the midfielder tumbling as the ball rolled harmlessly to Graczyk.
It was one of many attempts Sims either created or found himself on the end of.
Head coach Jeremy Fishbein said he was thankful Sims couldn't capitalize on any of them.
"He's one of the best players in the country," Fishbein said. "He's going to probably leave school early, and he'll be playing in the MLS next year. He was quite dangerous, but I thought we played him quite well."
Despite Rowland scoring his 15th goal of the season - which put him into second place for goals scored in UNM history - he said there's no extra weight on his shoulders in big games.
Rowland said Graczyk should be the one to get the credit for the win as well.
"You're always worried when you see a guy running 1 vs. 1 with the keeper, but to be honest, I've had faith in this guy all year," Rowland said. "He's always come up huge, so you kind of expect it now."
