The New Mexico Men’s Soccer team was 21 seconds away from forcing overtime with the No. 10 team in the nation when St. Mary’s caught Lobo keeper Alex Fetterly out of the box and capitalized to seal a 1-0 win.
“That’s about as tough as it comes,” Lobos head coach Jeremy Fishbein said. “I thought we had good sequences in the game and I thought as the second half picked up we were quite good, and that we had the majority of play. Little mistakes where we gave the ball away. That’s a team that is very good in transition, they had some dangerous attacking guys that we gave too many opportunities, we were not disciplined enough with the ball.”
The game began with the Lobos controlling the possession and holding the ball in the final third, but failing to generate many shots or chances. They only managed to put one shot on goal both in the half and in the game and it came off the foot of Matt Puig in the first half.
St. Mary’s was able to work the ball into a number of dangerous positions, and forced the Lobos freshman goalkeeper Fetterly into a pair of saves to keep things level. UNM held strong on free kicks and in transition, the areas that Fishbein has highlighted previously as a weakness that makes the Lobo vulnerable to conceding goals.
Fishbein said that the Lobos gave up too many opportunities through missed passes and “arrogance” in what the team was trying to do with the ball.
In the final fifteen minutes of the second half, the Lobos were able to generate a number of opportunities that could have been the difference in the game, but they were unable to execute and finish any of the chances, some of which were half chances, that presented themselves.
The Lobos were able to stop a Gaels free kick with just under three minutes left to play, and it appeared that they would be able to hold on to the draw and force overtime. Fetterly recorded three saves in the second half to keep the Lobos in the game, before his costly decision to charge the ball ultimately resulted in the loss.
Freshman forward Jake Rudel was the one charging the box that brought Fetterly out, and Rudel was able to pass the ball to Jakub Svehlik, who put it past the desperate diving foot of a Lobo defender as the Gaels bench erupted and the energy went out of the building. The Lobos seemed understandably upset and Puig left the field within moments of the end of the game.
As for addressing the small mistakes that Fishbein pointed to, he said he’s not sure how much that the Lobos will keep working on them.
“We’re 3-6, how much are you going to keep working on them,” Fishbein said. “It’s a good group, it’s a good group, you’ve gotta give them credit and confidence, you’ve gotta be excited for the next game. We’re not going to play real defensive and just pack it in that’s not how we play.”
The Lobos will look to right the ship Saturday, Sept. 29 at 11 a.m. against Florida International University at the UNM Soccer Complex.
Cameron Goeldner is a sports beat reporter and photographer for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers men’s soccer, women’s basketball, softball and the Albuquerque Isotopes, but also contributes content for baseball, basketball, football and track and field. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @goeldfinger.
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