The New Mexico men’s soccer team is only one win away from hoisting its first Conference USA Championship trophy.
But the next 90-plus minutes won’t be easy. On Sunday, the Lobos will have to take on the FIU Panthers, last year’s winners who are looking to post back-to-back titles.
The Panthers (11-5-2, 5-2-1 C-USA) took a 2-0 win over Old Dominion (6-9-2, 2-5-1) in Friday’s semifinals. Both goals were netted in the second half by defender Paul Marie.
New Mexico made it to the finals after a 2-1 upset over the No. 5 Charlotte 49ers, the No. 1 seed in the conference. The Lobos got the job done thanks to their go-to scorers, Chris Wehan and Niko Hansen.
Wehan scored the first goal of the night unassisted during the 51st minute, his seventh of the season.
The team was looking for an insurance goal, which Hansen found 20 minutes later thanks to an assist by Chris Gurule. Hansen ran his goal total up to 11 on the season with the score.
The Lobos needed the insurance, as they avoided a potential 1-1 tie after Charlotte’s Daniel Bruce put his team on the scoreboard during the 78th minute.
“Great performance,” UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein said in a statement. “I thought we were OK in the first half. Then we got it rolling in the second. We gave up one on a miscommunication to make it 2-1 and made it interesting, but we closed it out. I couldn’t be prouder of the guys.”
Fishbein said he likes the energy he is seeing from his players and wants it to continue for the championship game.
The Lobos hosted the Panthers earlier this season and took a 4-1 victory. The offense for both teams showed up in a game that saw a total of 29 shots recorded.
The Lobos posted 16 of the shots and were more accurate with its shooting as the team recorded 10 shots on goal, doubling the output of FIU.
Although there have been a lot of ups and downs this season, the Lobos (11-6-2, 4-3-1) have already improved on last year’s performance when they finished 8-6-4 overall and lost 1-0 to South Carolina in the first round of the C-USA Tournament.
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New Mexico didn’t make the NCAA Tournament after that result — but this year, that goal is still well within reach.
Sunday’s match will be broadcasted on ESPN3 at 12 p.m. MST.
Isabel Gonzalez is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. She mainly covers men’s soccer and basketball. She can be reached at sports @dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cisabelg.
