Senior midfielders Lance Rozeboom and Michael Green got a senior night gift like no other: the first undefeated season for the men’s soccer team.
University stadium was packed with some 5,300 Lobo fans as the team beat UNLV 3-0 on Saturday night.
Both Rozeboom and Green scored goals, and junior midfielder Lawrence Robledo added a third in a rough game that saw UNLV get two red cards.
“It was an absolute blast and the atmosphere was amazing,” freshman defender Nick Miele said. “We feel honored to send the seniors off tonight with a win.”
With five minutes left in the first half, sophomore midfielder Giovanni Rollie was fouled inside of the box and the Lobos were awarded a penalty kick.
Rozeboom stepped up and sent the goalie the wrong way to score his third goal of the season, all of them from penalty kicks.
Rozeboom said he is fine with only scoring three goals this year as long as the team wins.
“The bottom line is that everyone has the ability to win games this year,” he said. “I am more than happy to have others scoring game-winning goals for us as long as the team is unified and working hard.”
Fifteen minutes into the second half, the Rebels gave up another penalty kick.
Sophomore forward Carson Baldinger was taken down in the box, and the foul resulted in UNLV’s Richard Abrego receiving a red card.
On the ensuing penalty kick Green stepped up and got a goal of his own, his shot sneaking in past the diving Rebels’ goalkeeper Ryan Harding.
“To score on senior night is amazing,” he said. “You can’t really put in words what it means to me.”
With UNLV playing one man down, the Lobos continued to get in behind the Rebels’ defense. Freshman midfielder Adrian Mora Delgado almost scored his first goal of the season, but his shot was saved off the line.
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With 10 minutes left, Robledo added another point to the scoreboard for UNM, picking up a loose ball in the box and firing it past Harding.
Frustration got the better of Harding. He was shown a red card with five minutes left in the game after he argued with the referee.
The win was the 12th straight for the Lobos. The team finished the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play with a perfect 10-0-0 record.
Head coach Jeremy Fishbein said it was a great send-off for the two seniors.
“Pretty great way to send them off, but we still have more games here,” he said. “We can enjoy it now, but we can look forward to playing here again.”
The team earned a first-round bye in the MPSF conference tournament next weekend in Denver. The Lobos face the lowest seeded team that wins in the first round.
