Severe winds didn’t slow down the UNM men’s soccer team.
The Lobos notched two exhibition wins Sunday — against Fort Lewis (3-2) and Colorado State-Pueblo (5-0) — at Robertson Field. UNM improved to 3-1-1 record in its spring season.
“Soccer is a funny game,” head coach Jeremy Fishbein said. “I think (Fort Lewis) had two shots on goal, and they scored twice. I though it should have been at least a 6-1 game.”
The Lobos employed a different look than they did last year, with attackers Michael Green and Michael Kafari dropping to center midfield and Lance Rozeboom anchoring the back line.
The position change did not seem to affect Green, and in the first 10 minutes, he scored to give the Lobos their first lead against Fort Lewis.
Green said he moved to center-mid to get more scoring opportunities.
“It’s definitely different,” he said. “The plan is to get me more on the ball. It’s a lot different than playing up top, and you have more time and a little more space, but the mistakes are a little more costly.”
UNM dominated, and in the 37th minute, made it 2-0 when midfielder Blake Smith dribbled past two players and slotted it home. Smith sat most of the 2010 season because of a broken collarbone he suffered in a preseason game against Fort Lewis last fall. He said it was good to score against them.
“It’s a nice little redemption, I guess you could say,” he said. “We all wanted to come out here and get a solid win, and I think we did well.”
The Lobos continued applying pressure, and Devon Sandoval looked lively up front. He thought his header found the back of the net, but it was disallowed because of a foul.
Redshirt freshman Javier Gomez got on the board with a fine shot from 25 yards out in the 55th minute. Fishbein said Gomez was just one of the redshirt freshmen who looked impressive.
“I was real happy with how some of our younger players played today,” Fishbein said. “It looks good so far, but it’s still a work in progress.”
Fishbein said the heavy winds may have changed the Lobos’ play but gave them an opportunity to prepare for unknown, game-like situations.
“It’s kind of hard to play in this wind, but it’s good to play in some different kinds of environments,” he said.
UNM looks to get its six redshirt freshmen valuable experience before the games start to pile. UNM has five matches in April. The Lobos travel to Denver next weekend to take on Creighton, the team that knocked them out of the NCAA College Cup last season, before facing Denver on April 17.
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“We have a young team, and I think we are fitting players in the right positions right now, and we all have a real positive attitude about it,” Smith said. “This spring season is going to test us mentally and physically, and it’s tough on our bodies, but we can cope with it.”
