Lobos weather storm to win home game against UAB

sports@dailylobo.com

The UNM men’s soccer team earned its first home victory of the season on Friday.

UNM shot out the University of Alabama-Birmingham 2-0, but before play could begin, officials issued a 30-minute lightning delay, and during the first half, the Lobos and Blazers played through wind and rain.

Head coach Jeremy Fishbein said the inclement weather factored into what was a sloppy first half for UNM. “No pun intended, we weathered the storm, and the guys dealt with the elements. Once we kind of settled down and started to connect our passes, it really wasn’t much of a game,” Fishbein said. “It would have been nice to score some more goals, but I was real happy. We needed this game; we needed this result.”

Many of the 2,975 fans left the game after the windy and rainy first half and missed the Lobo-dominated second half, in which UNM outshot UAB 17-11.

The first goal of the game came from University of Central Florida-transfer Nik Robson in the 57th minute. After a couple of precise touch passes, Robson shot the ball from the top of the box and nailed his first score of the season into the top left of the goal.

“I didn’t have time to really think; I had to hit into the corner, and it went into the corner as far as it could,” Robson said.

Sophomore James Rogers scored the second goal in the 79th minute, sealing the game. It was the first action he saw this year, after returning from a three-game NCAA suspension, which he received for assaulting an official.

Rogers scored after junior Michael Calderon set off a shot from the edge of the box and UAB goalie Raphael Ville made his fourth save, but the rebound went straight to Rogers for an easy put in.

This is the second straight victory over a ranked team for the No. 8 Lobos. UNM beat No. 20 Southern Methodist University last weekend, and Fishbein said No. 25 UAB didn’t want to play head to head with UNM.

“The first half, we made it more of a war than we needed to be,” Fishbein said. “We’re a team that wants to play soccer against these guys. We wanted to get down on the field, move the ball and get them chasing. For whatever reason, it took us awhile to get into a rhythm … This was a team that didn’t want to play too much soccer against us; they were going to be successful playing very direct with set pieces, and we played very maturely. We didn’t give them very many opportunities.”

The win increases the Lobos’ home-win streak to 13, which is the third longest under Fishbein.