“Humbling” is the word men’s soccer head coach Jeremy Fishbein used to describe the two seniors who will receive their college degrees this semester.
The two “interesting cats,” as Fishbein described them, are Josh Dye and Adrian Mora Delgado.
“Those are two stable guys,” Fishbein said. “More than anything, they epitomize what a student-athlete is. It’s a bit humbling. They’re both engineering majors with 4.0 GPAs and they’re Division I athletes.”
A La Cueva High School graduate, Dye said he grew up in Albuquerque watching the Lobos and going to their camps, so being a Lobo is something he always aspired to.
“My most memorable experience was my first career start two years ago at Old Dominion,” Dye said. “It was just a great feeling.”
His first career start resulted in a 3-0 victory over then-No. 24 Old Dominion.
Dye, a midfielder, finished his career with one goal and two assists. He appeared in 52 games and played 3,539 minutes during his tenure as a Lobo. This November, Dye was named First Team Academic All-America by CoSIDA, which he earned by achieving a 4.07 GPA in electrical engineering.
“I just try to get my assignments done when I’m not doing soccer stuff,” Dye said. “It’s not easy, but I had learned how to managed my time wisely.”
Fishbein described the award as “well-deserved” and said Dye is a “great example” of what student-athletes should aspire to be.
Dye will attend graduate school to get his master’s degree. He is also getting ready to be married next year, and says he is beyond excited about the future.
Unlike Dye, who watched the Lobos his entire life, Mora Delgado was born in Costa Rica. The midfielder said he didn’t know what to expect from UNM because he never got a chance to visit before he transferred.
Today, Mora describes his time as a Lobo as “amazing,” even though there were several ups and downs.
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After suffering a knee injury during preseason his junior year, Mora had to take a medical redshirt and sit out.
“I think prior to getting hurt two years ago, he was maybe our best player in the preseason,” Fishbein said.
Mora described this period as difficult, but he also said some positives came out of it.
“It’s never easy to come back from a nine-month injury, but it definitely made me build some character,” he said.
His knee was healed by the next season, but other problems came up.
Mora Delgado came to the Lobos as a transfer from Costa Rica, and the NCAA said there were some discrepancies during the process, so Mora was declared ineligible to play.
But this didn’t discourage him, so he decided to just stick around.
“I knew I wasn’t going to get out of this program that way,” Mora said during his comeback at the beginning of the 2015 fall season.
As a senior, Mora made 11 appearances and played 579 minutes. Mora will graduate with a GPA above 3.9. He plans to continue working as an engineer intern and eventually become a professional engineer.
Fishbein said the real world is going to hit both Mora and Dye soon, but he thinks they’ll be alright because of everything they’ve already accomplished.
“It’s phenomenal. I’m really proud of them,” he said.
Isabel Gonzalez is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cisabelg.
