It took 110 minutes and nine rounds of penalty kicks in 40-degree weather, but the New Mexico men’s soccer team is moving on to play the second round of the NCAA Tournament after beating the Portland Pilots.
The Lobos hosted Portland on Thursday night in a first round-matchup, with over 2,300 fans in attendance. Once again, it was Ford Parker’s appearance in the net that led to a win.
The redshirt freshman made the last save of the night by diving to the right, sending the ball straight to the right post and making it bounce outside of the net to the left. The dramatic finish allowed his team to walk away with a 6-5 advantage.
“It was a good one today, against a very good offensive team, to get that shutout and get the result in front of our fans. Everybody got their money’s worth,” said UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein. “I couldn’t be prouder of this group. I think this is indicative of who we are as a program.”
Both teams had similar statistics going into the match, but New Mexico dominated on the field Thursday, outshooting Portland in every period and 18-5 overall.
Midfielder Josh Goss opened up the attacking with a shot from inside the box during the 5th minute. The ball was easily saved by Portland’s goalkeeper Paul Christensen and was the only shot on goal from either side during the first 45-minute period.
New Mexico finished the half leading 5-1 in shots and 3-2 in corner kicks.
The second half saw more action from both teams’ attacking thirds. The Lobos took 10 shots, although only four required Christensen to make saves. UNM’s starting keeper Jason Beaulieu made two saves on four shots from the Pilots.
Portland had a good scoring chance in the 77th minute when Beaulieu found himself outside the net. Defender Aaron Herrera came to the rescue and cleared Rey Ortiz’s shot.
Things were tight in both overtime periods. Portland did not record a single shot. New Mexico had three, the only one on target coming from a header from forward Niko Hansen in the 103rd minute.
Before penalty kicks began, Parker replaced Beaulieu on the net. He made the same type of appearance during the Conference USA quarterfinals against Kentucky.
During that match, Parker made four of five saves to help the Lobos move on to the semifinals. And with the season on the line, the goalkeeper came through again.
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“Ford Parker for president,” Fishbein joked. “A backup goalie is a heck of a position…you’ve got to come in during the most challenging times. Ford has prepared himself mentally. After games, he is always doing extra fitness, going out there by himself. This isn’t just some random lucky thing.”
The match was a physical one. There were a total of 26 fouls and six yellow cards distributed nearly equally between the teams. Portland was hit for fourteen fouls and half of the yellow cars, while New Mexico recorded 12 fouls.
Fishbein said he was happy with his team’s defense but admitted that the offense wasn’t as sharp as it could have been. Although the Lobos more than tripled the amount of shots the Pilots had, they weren’t able to find the net in the run of play.
“We should have taken our chances. We weren’t as good attacking as we’ve been. We rushed it a little bit,” he said. “We have to put this one behind us and be thankful. We weren’t at our best, but we found a way to win. That’s what great teams do. That being said, we have to be really good on Sunday if we are going to find the result.”
The Lobos are scheduled to play No. 11 seed Washington, on Sunday at 6 PM in Seattle for the second round of the tournament.
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.
