Soccer has to kick it up a notch

Five minutes into Wednesday’s contest against UC-Irvine, Lobo forward Justin Davis couldn’t find the back of the net.

It was a foreshadowing of things to come for the UNM men’s soccer team.
UC-Irvine’s Irving Garcia converted on a golden opportunity in overtime, boosting the Anteaters to a 2-1 victory.

Meanwhile, the Lobos were left to dwell on missed opportunities, despite getting six shots on goal.

After the Anteaters cleared a Lobo corner kick, Lobo defender David Murphy lost possession at midfield to Irvine’s Jorge Reyes, who relayed the ball to Garcia.
With two defenders and the goalkeeper to beat, Garcia stunned the Lobos by blasting the ball into the top of the net four minutes into overtime. Garcia had both the Anteaters’ goals.

Lobo head coach Jeremy Fishbein commended Garcia, but said the game shouldn’t have been that close.

“We had two breakaways and four or five good chances on goal that we missed,” he said. “This game was one of the most important games of our season. If we could take seven wins into conference play, we would have easily made the tournament. Now we have to work a bit harder.”

The Lobos certainly had their chances, specifically in the 21st minute off a long-distance shot from defender Euan Holden. Three minutes later, Davis failed to find the net again.

Early on, the Anteaters forced the issue, and if it weren’t for a great save by Lobo goalkeeper Justin Fite in the 39th minute, the Lobos would have been down at the half.
But things turned in the Anteaters favor in the 82nd minute, when Garcia broke the deadlock on a rebound that fell to him off a corner kick. He volleyed it home to give UC-Irvine the 1-0 advantage.

With the crowd silenced, the outcome looked somber for the Lobos, who seemed to be heading for their fourth loss of the season.

However, in the 85th minute, with the Lobos pressing, Davis had a long throw in and defender Simon Ejdemyr finished with a textbook-placed header over Victor Chinchilla. It breathed life into the crowd and the Lobos.

But, in the end, Garcia once again dashed UNM’s hopes.

“We knew we were the better team throughout the game,” Ejdemyr said. “We just talked about staying patient in the overtime and playing without mistakes. We all thought we were going to win this game. … We will just have to fight harder in conference to get it back.”