The list of experienced kickers on the New Mexico football team is a short one: nobody. In fact, the whole special teams unit will look entirely different for the Lobos: UNM will also have a first-time punter, place holder and special teams coordinator this season.
The starting unit for the New Mexico volleyball team was sharp in lone preseason play, beating the alumnae team 3-1 on Saturday. Although the annual exhibition game is designed to brush off the cobwebs and show off some of the younger talent, head coach Jeff Nelson said the alumnae opponent boasted a stiff test.
The No. 5 New Mexico men’s soccer team finished its last preseason exhibition with a 1-1 draw against Denver University Saturday night at the UNM Soccer Complex. It was not the result the Lobos were looking for, but head coach Jeremy Fishbein maintained it was good preparation for its season opener on Friday against No. 13 Akron. The first 30 minutes of the match remained scoreless until UNM freshman Sam Gleadle deflected a rebound from a shot by midfielder Ben McKendry into the net. With that, Gleadle tallied his second goal of the exhibition season.
New Mexico Athletic Director Paul Krebs announced Friday that 22 women’s soccer players will be suspended for one game and head coach Kit Vela will be suspended for one week without pay for a hazing incident that occurred Sunday night. Vela is not permitted to have any contact with team beginning on Monday.
When first-year defensive backs coach Charles McMillian started to breakdown film of New Mexico’s secondary, he had some serious questions about one player in particular. “He would just run mindlessly, as we would say, by just not going to the football,” McMillian said. “I wouldn’t have thought he was a football player.” That player turned out to be redshirt junior Brandon Branch, the Lobos’ starting free safety.
Starting roster spots are generally won in the preseason. However, New Mexico head volleyball coach Jeff Nelson has a different plan to accommodate one of the deepest teams he has coached. Elsa Krieg, Victoria Spragg, Simone Henderson and Skye Gullatt have all caught the coach’s attention as potential starters at middle blocker. “We are really deep in the middle. I think we’ve got four really strong middles,” Nelson said. “I think that position on some nights could even come down to how they warmup.”
The New Mexico football team reinstated Jamal Price after the senior guard agreed to enter into the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Pre-Prosecution Probation Program. Albuquerque police arrested Price last month after an altercation with his girlfriend Khadijah Shumpert, a UNM women’s basketball player, according to police reports.
While volleyball may be her primary sport in college, Cassie House has excelled at a variety of other sports throughout her life. Most athletes dabble in other activities growing up, but House was showed exceptional talent in the swimming pool and competed at a high level before being introduced to the game of volleyball. “A lot of people didn’t know that I was a huge swimmer before I started playing volleyball,” House said.
Putting teams away early is the message that head coach Jeremy Fishbein wants to instill before the men’s soccer season begins. While Fishbein was pleased with his team’s 3-0 exhibition shutout over Fort Lewis Monday night, the coach would have liked to put on additional pressure before the second half. After going into halftime with a 1-0 lead, Fishbein’s desire to inflict more chaos and panic on the opposition’s side was not executed. “We found that first goal, but we really needed to find that second goal to open things up,” Fishbein said. UNM dominated the visiting Skyhawks defensively, not allowing a shot on goal the entire game.
Even with four top players gone, the UNM men’s soccer team is not worrying. Players are filling in holes and new leaders are emerging. One of these leaders is defender and team captain Mathew Gibbons. Last year was Gibbon’s third straight season playing at least 1,800 minutes.
Men’s basketball The men’s basketball team hired Alan Huss to become the new assistant coach, UNM announced Tuesday. Huss spent his last four seasons as the head coach of La Lumiere School, a prep program in La Porte, Indiana. He replaces Craig Snow, who became the new head coach at New Mexico Highlands University in July. Huss will officially join the staff later this summer, pending UNM human resources approval.
Young teams are often threatened with having to endure a learning curve. However, the University of New Mexico volleyball team is confident that the unit will be good to go as soon as the season starts. “This team has been a long time in the making. We’re excited about it,” head coach Jeff Nelson said. “We’re poised to make a good run for a while … We’re ready to make a run at the conference championship.”
Although the UNM men’s soccer team had a successful season last year, the question at the beginning of every season is always the same: What will this season be like? Last year the Lobos won the Conference USA regular-season title in its first season in the league, and made it all the way to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament. It was a season the team could be proud of, but success did not come easy; senior forward James Rogers said the team didn’t know what to expect at first because they had lost many good players.
Both halves of last year’s strong New Mexico backcourt reached the NBA ranks over the summer. Cameron Bairstow signed a professional contract with the Chicago Bulls, the team announced on July 21. The Bulls drafted Bairstow with the 49th overall pick just one year after taking another former UNM player, Tony Snell. “Appreciate all the support from everyone throughout this process!!” Bairstow wrote on Twitter. “Excited to be a part of the Bulls!!”
The New Mexico women’s basketball team concluded its tour of Italy with a 54-41 loss to the Netherlands National Team.
The New Mexico women’s basketball team had trouble closing out the Netherlands national team in its first loss of the Italy exhibition tour.
The UNM men’s soccer team proved its worth last year during its inaugural season in Conference USA by going 7-1-1 and winning the regular-season title. This year the team is coming back to show that its first-year success in C-USA was not beginner’s luck. On Wednesday, Conference USA announced that the UNM men’s soccer team is the preseason favorite to take the conference championship.
The New Mexico women’s basketball team has grown during its exhibition tour in Italy. The squad improved to 2-0 with a 70-54 victory over the Adriatic Sea Sirens last Saturday. “We played well,” head coach Yvonne Sanchez told reporters of GoLobos.com.
Senior guard Antiesha Brown received the game’s MVP after scoring 16 points in a 74-37 route against AS Vincenza on Thursday night in the opening game of the NCAA Vicenza Tour exhibition.
The message was clear: it’s time for the New Mexico football team to move on. After two years of rebuilding, UNM head football coach Bob Davie said its time the program starts looking toward the future and stop dwelling on the past.
Solutions by The State News
