Sports

Sports

Spring football: Davie unveils new strategies for defensive troubles

Liam Cary-Eaves | March 27

The New Mexico football team is hopeful that a new scheme and additional personnel will help solve some defensive woes. After allowing the most yards in the Mountain West last season, the Lobos needed a change and they are hoping that a nickel base defense and new defensive backs coach Al Simmons will clear up some of UNM’s issues. “To get someone who’s been in this conference for three years, been a defensive coordinator and all of that. So the resume is really impressive,” head coach Bob Davie said of Simmons. “What more impressive is his demeanor. He’s not going to flinch.

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Sports

Spring football: Other running backs take center as Pressley takes a spring break

Thomas Romero-Salas | March 27

Unlike the quarterback position, there isn’t much question about who will be one of New Mexico’s top running backs come the fall. Jhurell Pressley is likely to get his fair share of the carries in 2015, but the senior tailback isn’t taking repetitions during spring practice because he’s not enrolled at UNM this semester. Head coach Bob Davie said Pressley will be back this summer and has not commented on why Pressley isn’t in school this spring. With Pressley not being at spring practice that only means other running backs will take his reps and get more accustomed to the offense.

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Sports

Men's basketball: Lobos hope to bounce back after first losing season in 8 years

Liam Cary-Eaves | March 27

Following New Mexico’s first losing season since 2007, the Lobos are preparing to get back on track in the 2015-2016 season. In Craig Neal’s season ending press conference, the head coach addressed the need to get better in anticipation of conference play. Next season’s competition will feature a more difficult non-conference schedule than this past season’s play. Although Neal said the dates have not yet been set, the Lobos will play host to Northern Iowa, a team which finished No. 11 before losing in the 32nd round of the NCAA tournament. UNM will also welcome Rice to Wise Pies Arena, according the Neal.

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Sports

Lobos' run in postseason play comes to an close

Liam Cary-Eaves | March 24

Poor shooting from the field and the free throw line ends the Lobos’ season in a 63-60 loss to Oral Roberts in the second round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational. Despite a late push, New Mexico couldn’t overcome a 20 of 70 shooting performance from the field to advance to the WBI semifinals. Head coach Yvonne Sanchez said her squad came out of the gates without a lot of confidence, which cost the Lobos another home win in postseason play.

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Sports

Sports briefs for March 23, 2015

Liam Cary-Eaves | March 23

UNM needed only six innings of play to take the rubber match from Utah State 12-2 on Sunday. Junior pitcher Lauren Soles threw a gem, with the fifth inning as her only blemish, allowing two runs on four hits in her second complete game of the season. New Mexico’s offense provided plenty of firepower against Utah State (9-19, 1-2 MW), slugging six homers in Sunday’s contest. Junior outfielder Mariah Rimmer led the way in an eight-run sixth inning, crushing a solo-shot to left field and a three-run homer to collect all four of her RBIs on the day.

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Sports

Women's basketball: Lobos face formidable postseason challenge

Liam Cary-Eaves | March 23

New Mexico’s post play will face a significant test against a prolific rebounder, as the Lobos host Oral Roberts in the Women’s Basketball Invitational second round. Vicky McIntyre, the Golden Eagles’ 6-foot-7 redshirt senior center, has 508 rebounds this season, which is sixth best all-time in NCAA history for a single season. Only nine players have eclipsed the 500-rebound plateau in a single season. “You can’t make it easy on her because she is awfully good,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “She gets a double-double almost every game.”

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Sports

Sand volleyball: UNM's newest sport starts with a struggle

Liam Cary-Eaves | March 23

New Mexico’s newest athletic program played on its own turf — sand, actually — for the first time on Saturday. The New Mexico sand volleyball team struggled in its home debut against No. 18 Grand Canyon University, dropping both matches 4-1 at StoneFace courts. UNM now sits at 1-3 on its inaugural season. Assistant coach Lisa Beauchene said the program is continually improving and New Mexico needs to keep facing quality competition to progress further. “We’re playing a lot of the Arizona teams more than once, which is really tough competition, but good experience for us,” she said.

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Sports

Spring football: Practice brings defensive changes

Thomas Romero-Salas | March 23

Spread offenses have forced New Mexico to make a defensive change this upcoming season. UNM will shift from its base 3-4 defense to a 3-3-5 system in order to shore up its passing defense. The 3-3-5 is played with five defensive backs and just three linebackers, while the 3-4 has four defensive backs and four linebackers. The Lobos ran the 3-4 defense for the past three seasons and ranked near the bottom of Division I football subdivision schools in passing over that span.

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Sports

Baseball: Lobos' losses come by the skin of their fangs

Thomas Romero-Salas | March 23

One costly error and a lack of clutch hitting stopped New Mexico’s rally short in an 8-7 loss to No. 24 Houston on Sunday. UNM (11-10) has now lost four straight games by one run and have lost six straight overall. The Cougars won the first two games of the series by the same score of 6-5. “It’s a shame, but I just have to keep them confident and keep them fighting,” head coach Ray Birmingham said. “They’re a good baseball team; they just played a good baseball team. We could’ve won all three, and we lost all three.”

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Sports

Football: Rivalry fierce for top spot

Thomas Romero-Salas | March 20

The quarterback competition for New Mexico isn’t bothering Lamar Jordan at all. Instead, Jordan, the redshirt freshman incumbent starter, is embracing the fact that several signal-callers are gunning for his job. Quarterbacks Caleb Kimbro, Jajuan Lawson, Patrick Reed and junior college transfer Austin Apodaca are all in the running for Jordan’s spot this upcoming fall. “I feel like you never get better unless you have competition,” Jordan said. “The shy people shy away from competition. I’m a wolf: I’m going to get what I want. I’m going to compete with whoever it is, no matter if he’s bigger than me or smaller than me.”

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Sports

Softball: Strong team starts MW

Liam Cary-Eaves | March 20

Quality performances from the pitching circle have granted New Mexico the ability to win without relying solely on offensive production. Head softball coach Erica Beach said hitting has been a strong point for the Lobos all season, but the pitching staff gives New Mexico a new dimension to have confidence in as the squad enters Mountain West play against Utah State today. “For our pitchers to have really been hitting their stride right now is something that we’ve needed,” Beach said. “We’re looking forward to seeing what they can do in conference.”

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Sports

Postseason drought ends with 54-51 win in Johnson Center

Liam Cary-Eaves | March 19

For the first time since 2010, New Mexico captured a postseason victory with a 54-51 decision over North Dakota in the Women’s Basketball Invitational Wednesday night at Johnson Center. Although Johnson Center is typically home to UNM’s volleyball team, the women’s basketball team played its game away from Wise Pies Arena due to scheduling conflicts. However, the Lobos made due with the 1,471 fans, the smallest home crowd of the season, to pull out a tight victory.

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Sports

Geek Edition: Pro wrestling is made of pure genius

Thomas Romero-Salas | March 18

Professional wrestling is a niche like no other. There’s no other form of entertainment that can take you on the psychological ride like wrestling does. Yes, you must suspend your disbelief for a couple of hours, but that’s the same with movies and no one complains about that.

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Sports

Skiing: Close losing scores cost team the podium

Staff Report | March 16

Two of the top times in the NCAA National Championships were not enough to propel the New Mexico ski team to a medal in Lake Placid, New York this weekend. UNM finished in 5th on Saturday, ending the season with 402 points. The University of Colorado took home the national title with 505 points. In her final race as a Lobo, senior Mateja Robnik facilitated an All-American bid as she finished eighth in the giant slalom. Robnik took the All-American stand with a combined time of 1:58.70. The two totals edged Mary Sackbauer from Middlebury College by just .04 seconds, for the final spot on the All-American team.

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Sports

Column: Next year's men's Lobos shows promise

Kyle Tomasi | March 16

New Mexico’s season was not of the caliber fans have come to expect from UNM. There were a lot of speed bumps, there was a lot of inexperience, and there was an unprecedented eight-game skid. After winning three consecutive Mountain West championships, the Lobos finished 15-16 and were bounced in the first round of the conference tournament against the Air Force Falcons. The loss was senior guard Hugh Greenwood’s first in MW Tournament play throughout his four-year career at UNM.

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Sports

Sports briefs for March 16, 2015

Liam Cary-Eaves | March 16

Track and Field UNM tied for 31st in the 2015 NCAA Track and Field Championships on Saturday in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Lobo runners Sammy Silva, Allan Hamilton and Adam Bitchell accepted All-American honors on the weekend. Silva’s 4:35.44 mile time garnered a sixth-place finish, which marked the seventh female indoor All-American athlete in program history.

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Sports

Lobos fall short in MW title game

Thomas Romero-Salas | March 13

After a 1-7 start to the season, there wasn’t many who thought that the Lobos would be in a position to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Reaching the Mountain West Basketball Championship game put UNM in a position to earn an automatic bid to NCAAs, but UNM missed that chance following 66-60 defeat to Boise State in the Friday’s title bout.

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Sports

Greenwood's finale ends in loss at MW tournament

Thomas Romero-Salas | March 11

LAS VEGAS – When point guard Hugh Greenwood waves to the crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center it’s usually after a New Mexico victory. Not this time.

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Sports

Lobos survive, advance in MW women's quarterfinals

J.R. Oppenheim | March 10

LAS VEGAS -- Yvonne Sanchez found it difficult to compare this UNM women’s basketball team to others she has been around. There are similarities, the Lobo coach said, like the team’s length and athleticism, or its inside presence.

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Sports

Women's basketball: Win at Wyoming would lock second place for UNM

Liam Cary-Eaves | March 6

New Mexico controls its destiny for the number-two spot in the conference, but a share of the Mountain West title is not out of the question. A win tonight in Laramie, Wyoming guarantees the Lobos can do no worse than second in the conference. “We just have to focus on how we can get a win in Wyoming,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “We’ll focus on that first, and then we will know by Friday night where we finish.”