by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
It was the best offensive performance of the season for the UNM men's soccer team.
The No. 13 Lobos (9-3-2) extended their season-long winning streak to four games on Friday after downing UNLV 4-1 in Las Vegas.
UNM has been unable to put away goals after creating opportunities at times this season, which has plagued the Lobo offense.
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UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein said that changed on Friday.
"It was good to see," he said in a phone interview. "We scored some nice goals and did some nice things on the attack."
The Lobos got the goals from four players, including junior forward Blake Danaher, who scored his first goal of the season.
Freshman Stephen Brown, sophomore Jack Smithson and senior Andrew Boyens also scored.
UNM goalkeeper Mike Graczyk said it is important for the Lobo offense to start coming together at this point in the season.
"It was good to get some guys scoring who hadn't scored yet," he said. "It's definitely good to get a win like that in conference."
The Lobos got on the board early as Smithson put a Boyens header into the goal in the second minute.
UNM managed just the one goal in the first half but struck again early in the second half, as Brown put a goal through in the 48th minute. In the 53rd minute, Danaher scored his goal off an assist from Brandon Barklage.
UNLV closed to 3-1 in the 56th minute when Ben Haugland put his team on the board.
However, Boyens helped seal the victory in the 63rd minute by heading the ball off a corner kick from Justin Davis.
On a four-game winning streak, UNM is coming together but needs to focus every game, Fishbein said.
"I feel like the last couple games we played really well in spurts," he said. "I thought in the San Jose State game we played real well for 90 minutes. Our challenge is consistency. I'm happy with things right now with the team."
Graczyk said the team is performing at its best right now.
"I think it's good that we're starting to put things away and starting to play well as a team," he said. "That's something we pride ourselves in - trying to peak at the end of the season. Hopefully, we can continue to do that."
Graczyk said playing with the same intensity is the Lobos' biggest challenge.
"The one thing we definitely need to work on is consistency," Graczyk said. "Just coming out and being able to play with that mentality every game."
The Lobos will take on UNLV at home on Saturday.
Graczyk said UNM needs to respect UNLV despite Friday's
outcome.
"Since we put up four goals, the challenge is going to play with that same kind of attitude going into next week," he said. "Not just take them lightly because of the performance that we had last week."
Men's soccer vs. UNLV
Saturday, 7 p.m.
UNM Soccer Complex
