by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
The Lobos are used to winning at home.
So when the No. 21 UNM men's soccer team tied No. 1 SMU 1-1 on Friday, there were a lot more frowns than smiles.
"I thought we played good, and we should have won that game," said UNM goalkeeper Mike Graczyk. "It's not a good result for us. Tying 1-1 at home, with this crowd, the chances that we had, it's not good enough. You got to finish it. You got to put it away."
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SMU went up 1-0 after a goal by Adrian Chevannes in the 43rd minute. The Mustangs were in control much of the first half, getting off seven shots while the Lobos managed three.
UNM came out with a stronger offensive effort in the second half, spending most of the time in SMU territory and outshooting the Mustangs 11-7. The Lobos tied the game on an own goal in the 57th minute after SMU's Jeff Harwell tried to head away a UNM shot but put the ball in the Mustangs' goal.
However, the Lobos failed to capitalize on numerous other opportunities and let the game go into overtime. Neither team was able to score in the first or second overtime.
The Lobos outplayed SMU but were unable to put the game away, said Jeremy Fishbein, UNM head coach.
"We got the better of that team," Fishbein said. "We needed to finish our opportunities. We should have beat them. We were a much better team than them on the night."
After Friday night's draw, the Lobos returned to action Sunday against Tulsa.
UNM (3-2-2) bounced back by downing Tulsa 1-0 on Sunday behind another strong effort from the defense.
Fishbein said it was important for the team to be able to focus and get the victory on Sunday.
"That was a huge win," he said. "We needed it to get ahead in the winning column and for confidence. I was really happy with how we played. We made it more interesting than it should have been. We didn't finish a lot of opportunities, but a lot of guys are playing better and better."
The Lobos had a few more missed opportunities Sunday, outshooting Tulsa 13-8.
Freshman Stephen Brown put the Lobos on the board in the 29th minute. He said it was thrilling to contribute to a big win.
"It was definitely exciting," Brown said. "Coming in as a freshman, they expect a lot out of you, and I'm just glad that I could play well."
Graczyk said he was happy with the team's focus against Tulsa after the draw against SMU.
"The Friday game's an easy game to get up for," he said. "Playing the No. 1 team in the country, under the lights, with all the fans and everything, it's an easy game to get up for. These are the harder games to get up for, so I'm proud of the boys' effort today."
While the scoring hasn't been as high as he would like, Fishbein likes the direction the team is heading.
"That was a great outcome for us," he said. "The defense played well. Those guys have been great. The thing I'm excited about is that we're creating more opportunities. You're going to see a very good team once we start putting those away."
