The UNM men’s soccer team capped a good weekend with a convincing 3-0 win over Gonzaga University on Sunday at the UNM Soccer Complex. The Lobos improved to 4-2 overall for the season. “It was an all-around great performance,” said head coach Jeremy Fishbein.
Nobody said losing a team’s on-court vocal and inspirational leader would be easy. With senior outside hitter and co-captain Rose Morris on the sidelines with a pinky injury, the UNM volleyball team came out flat and was defeated by Texas Christian University on Wednesday 25-18, 16-25, 25-22, 25-22 in the Mountain West Conference opener.
The UNM football team has already dubbed their offensive line the “Hitmen.” Now head coach Mike Locksley is calling for his linemen to block — and his team to execute. After taking two beatings this season, schematic wizardry is not going to get the Lobo football team over the hump against Air Force, Locksley said.
The injury-plagued UNM volleyball team managed a runner-up finish at the Lobo Challenge this weekend. After sweeping Cal State Fullerton on Friday — 25-19, 25-17, 25-22 — the Lobos were handed their first loss of the season Friday at the hands of Baylor in a hard-fought 3-2 thriller.
The record-shattering UNM women’s soccer team’s historic ride continues. UNM remains perfect at 6-0-1 and has tied the school record for most matches without a loss after battling Tulsa to a tie at the UNM Soccer Complex on Sunday. The Lobos played through two tough overtimes, but in the end neither team could find the back of the net.
Through thick and thin — and mostly thin — the Lobo football team has been able to count on one thing: the running game. From Don Perkins to Don Woods, from Winslow Oliver to Rodney Ferguson, almost every era of UNM football has had a marquee back to carry the team. So, when this year’s Lobo squad averages 38 yards on the ground and a dismal 1.6 yards per carry over its first two games, there’s some cause for concern among the UNM faithful. Even head coach Mike Locksley, who perhaps got spoiled by the dominant Rashard Mendenhall during his tenure at Illinois, is struggling to find a remedy. “With this same style of offense (at Florida and Illinois) we led the SEC and the Big 10 in rushing,” Locksley said.
New Mexico is a grand whine cellar. Choosing to chastise Lobo football aficionados in his scathing departing shot, former head coach Rocky Long said in not so many words that UNM football supporters were nothing more than wine-and-cheese fans.
The UNM football team has yet to score an offensive touchdown after their 44-10 loss at the hands of Tulsa on Saturday at University Stadium. “It’s been a long time since I went two games without scoring a touchdown,” head coach Mike Locksley said.
There’s a hurricane warning this Saturday in Albuquerque. Early reports indicate the eye of the storm is headed straight for University Stadium. UNM will face Tulsa in its home-opener, but head coach Mike Locksley doesn’t want his team looking for vengeance from last year’s 56-14 beat down at the hands of the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane, said linebacker Clint McPeek. “We would like to redeem ourselves,” he said.
There comes a point when even a loyal soldier realizes some wars are lost causes — they aren’t worth investing in anymore. That point might have come for Lobo safety Ian Clark, the UNM football team’s most raucous and experienced defensive leader. A source close to Clark is “90 percent sure” Clark is out for the season after his left shoulder was re-injured for the second time in less than a month.
Jeremy Fishbein is, and always has been, a knowledgeable soccer coach. His .666 career winning percentage is an indication of that. Fishbein has 87 wins in 125 games coached during his seven years at UNM, including one national championship appearance in 2005.
Wine hath drowned more men than the sea. So, too, has overconfidence. All last season, the UNM men’s soccer team battled to maintain humble sobriety — and lost. Liquored up on success — and drunk with talent — the Lobos ever-so-slightly reduced their investment in altruism, instead turning toward selfishness. Understandably: Winning, much like alcohol, makes for insatiable addicts.
Even with 17 shots, the UNM men’s soccer team didn’t make San Francisco’s goalkeeper Brendan Roslund break much of a sweat. That’s because the Lobos shot only twice on goal.
There is no doubt about who is the trigger man for the UNM men’s soccer team: Justin Davis. And he’s not gun-shy.The senior forward is coming into his final season with a chance to make it into the Lobo record books.
Perhaps this year’s season-opening radio broadcast won’t be as hectic as last year’s for Lobo football play-by-play announcer Scott Galetti.
The UNM men’s soccer team opens up its home schedule on Saturday against No. 22 San Francisco.“It’s an exciting home-opener,” Senior Justin Davis said. Both teams look evenly matched. They enter Saturday’s contest from impressive victories in their first games of the season.
Mike Locksley is an optimist. He doesn’t appear at all worried that the UNM football team is headed for College Station, Texas, this weekend to face Texas A&M, a team that beat the Lobos 28-22 in Albuquerque last year.
As surely as Monday would follow Sunday, Donovan Porterie was going to be the UNM football team’s starting quarterback this season.
UNM men’s soccer head coach Jeremy Fishbein is cautiously optimistic about the upcoming 2009 season. After losing their footing last year, the Lobos are trying to reclaim their spot atop the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
The NBA needs more White Chocolate. Jason Williams, even though he’s not as big a household name, is more of an ambassador for the league than Michael Jordan or Larry Bird.
Solutions by The State News
