Portland breaks hearts again

It was better late than never for the visiting Portland Pilots on Sunday at the UNM Soccer Complex.

Portland, which defeated the UNM men’s soccer team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season, lifted themselves past the Lobos 2-1 again after a late goal by defender Ryan Kawulok.

The Pilots scored in the 89th minute with only their third shot on the goal.

“It’s a game where you need to take care of your chances. They capitalized on the two opportunities they had,” UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein said.

The Lobos, who beat No. 16 Georgetown 3-1 on Friday, dominated Portland early.

Midfielder James Urbany had a chance to put the Lobos score up 35 minutes into the game, but his shot hit the near post and bounced out. UNM’s breakthrough goal, however, came two minutes into the second half.

Midfielder Lawrence Robledo scored his first career goal after picking up a ball on the left wing from defender Michael Reed. As the Portland defenders backed off of him, he curled a 25-yard shot from outside that found the back of the net.

But a mix of luck and poor defending gave Pilots’ Jarad Banschaik a free shot from 18 yards out. He buried the ball into the right side of the goal, knotting the game in the 55th minute.

In the final 30 minutes, Patrick Pacheco and Josh Caffey missed easy goal-scoring chances, and UNM was left to rue its missed opportunities after Kawulok scored from close range with one minute left. The Lobos pumped the ball forward in the last seconds in hope of an equalizer. Midfielder Michael Green almost tied it up with seconds left, but his header flew wide of the post.

“It’s really disappointing,” Fishbein said. “If you play this game five times, you won’t see that same result. They finished. They had two half-chances, and they finished them. They really played to their strengths. If you allow teams that on paper are not as talented as you to stay in games, this happens. They snuck one from us.”