The UNM men’s soccer team capped a good weekend with a convincing 3-0 win over Gonzaga University on Sunday at the UNM Soccer Complex.
The Lobos improved to 4-2 overall for the season.
“It was an all-around great performance,” said head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “It will really help us, because we have four tough games coming up.”
The Lobos started the scoring early on, in the 19th minute, after freshman Patrick Pacheco hammered home a perfectly placed left-footed shot. This was his first career goal as a starter for the Lobos.
“Fishbein told me to run at players if they are backing up,” Pacheco said. “I just did a step over and saw the goalie out of position and shot it.”
The Lobos back line was rarely tested in the first half, and the Lobos dominated much of the second half as well.
Lobo forward Michael Green, assisted by a pinpoint pass from Michael Reed, scored in the third minute of the second half from 20 yards out. It was Green’s first goal of the season to go along with three assists so far this year.
“Reed just played a perfect ball over the top and left me with just having to finish it,” Green said.
The Lobos deposited their last goal in the 52nd minute. Some good passing down the left wing allowed defender James Urbany to tap it in.
“We were focused and well prepared for this game,” Fishbein said. “It was good getting some of the young guys some minutes, too.”
UNM outshot the Bulldogs 22-10. Gonzaga only pressured the goal in the final minutes, but Lobo goalkeeper Justin Holmes came up with two big saves.
The Lobos have won three games in a row, including Friday’s come-from-behind win over UC Davis 2-1. Up until the 56th minute, the Lobos trailed, before Stephen Brown tied the game at 1-1. Simon Ejdemyr then won the game with a penalty kick in the 72nd minute.
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The Lobos’ schedule gets even harder when UNM travels to take on No. 7 University of California, Berkeley on Friday, before matching up with Stanford on Sunday.
California is the fifth nationally ranked team the Lobos will face this season.
“We are going to be really focused over these next few games, and we are going to play some more tough nationally ranked teams,”
Fishbein said.
UNM vs. California, Berkeley
Friday
5:30 p.m.
Stanford, Calif.
