by David J. Chavez
Daily Lobo
The UNM men's soccer team lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Wednesday, falling to California 3-1 in Berkeley, Calif.
Head coach Jeremy Fishbein said the team started the game with a mistake, and everything crumbled from there.
"We came out onto the field, and our mental focus wasn't where it needed to be at the beginning of the game," he said. "Anytime you let a team score early in the game, you're back on your heels, and that, combined with a lot of players having a subpar performance, led to the loss."
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Two minutes into the game, Cal jumped out to an early lead thanks to a Jacob Wilson goal on an assist from Hector Jimenez.
The Golden Bears pushed their lead to 2-0 in the 32nd minute, when Javier Ayala-Hil scored on a shot from inside UNM's
six-yard box.
Cal outshot the Lobos 8-3 in the first half and went into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
UNM goalkeeper Mike Graczyk said the team's performance didn't reflect its talent.
"It's really disappointing. The last couple games going down the stretch, we didn't play as well as we know that we could have," he said. "If you have a poor performance against a team like Cal, they're going to punish you for it."
In the second half, the Lobos came out with some offensive intensity and matched Cal in shots 9-9.
However, that intensity wasn't enough to help the Lobos make up the two-goal difference.
In the 63rd minute, the Golden Bears' Andrew Jacobson chipped a pass over the Lobo defense to Ayala-Hil. Graczyk came off his line, and Ayala-Hil dribbled around him and put the ball in an open net to give Cal a 3-0 lead.
UNM avoided the shutout when junior Joey Vitagliano passed the ball to junior Blake Danaher, who put the ball past Cal goalkeeper Justin Myers to bring the score to 3-1 in the 83rd minute.
Fishbein said the team had a great season and learned valuable lessons it can use next year.
"It was a good team that we played against, but I don't think it was a team that's better than us," he said. "We had a great season, and hopefully, you learn from the mistakes, but you can't judge your success for the season on
one game."
In the end, the Golden Bears outshot the Lobos 17-12 and had nine corner kicks, compared to UNM's six.
Graczyk said the loss was disappointing because the team fell short of taking the College Cup - a goal it had since the beginning of the season.
"It was a good season," he said. "But our expectations are a lot higher, and we didn't achieve all the goals that we wanted to."
