Sports

Sports

Fall Sports Issue: Team makes its mark with 25 years of play

Cameron Goeldner | September 4

With the 2017 season underway, the New Mexico Women’s Soccer team isn’t focused on the fact that this year marks the 25th season of the program, they’re focused on their matchup this Friday with Houston. It didn’t take long for the inaugural team to make its mark, going 11-5-1 in their first season and quickly laying down a foundation of success for all future iterations of the team to strive for, one that has lead to an all-time record of 211-197-57. In terms of support, the Lobos have one of the strongest contingents in women’s collegiate soccer. The team finished 24th in the country in average home attendance, drawing 1,058 fans per game and 6,348 overall. By comparison, the men’s team averaged 1,361 fans per game, 21st in the nation.

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Sports

Fall Sports Issue: Medical scare unable to sideline determined Lobo wide receiver

Robert Maler | September 4

“He looked dazed, and he just kind of went out of it. It was scary,” Matt Quarells said as he recounted what it was like when Lobo wide receiver Patrick Reed started to pass out while standing outside a restaurant. The two were close, roommates and teammates at the time, and thankfully Quarells was there to catch him. Charlotte Hope, Reed’s mother, said every parent wants their kids to have positive friends around them, and although Quarells has since transferred to Iowa, she couldn’t have asked for a better person to be at her son’s side.

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Opinion

Letter: Athletics budget issues would be unacceptable for anyone else

Daily Lobo Readers | September 4

Editor, Math is not everyone’s strong point. Many of us admittedly try not to bother with it. But when you are getting ripped off, it pays to start asking questions about numbers. Students here at UNM have been suffering. Tuition costs are rising, and lottery scholarships are falling. Each and every one of us have been sacrificing whether we know it not. Consider for a moment on how you sacrifice.

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News

Fall Sports Issue: Football ticket price drops for upcoming season

Cameron Goeldner | September 4

The UNM Football program announced during the offseason that it is lowering season ticket prices by 10 percent across the board in an effort to bring more fans into Dreamstyle Stadium. In addition, the program has announced single-game promotions for the year — this started with last Saturday’s game against Abilene Christian. "We are constantly evaluating ways to get more fans to come enjoy Lobo football, and we have a product that we are very proud of," former Athletic Director Paul Krebs said in a release at the time of the announcement.

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Culture

Fall Sports Issue: Column — Greatest sports movies of all time

Robert Maler | September 4

Sports has often served as a way of bringing people together who otherwise may not have anything in common with each other—but discussing where things in sports rank all-time is almost a sure-fire way to tear it all down.  Here is a list of where some of the more notable sports movies rank, according to the Daily Lobo sports editor that may be fun to pick apart. The categories focus on the “big three” American sports and other popular sports genres in film. Some otherwise fine films were not considered for the list if it was determined that they fell into romantic comedy status or relied too much on nostalgia, for example “Jerry Maguire” and “Field of Dreams." Baseball: Editor Pick: A tie right off the bat (pun intended). “The Natural” (1984) and “Major League” (1989). Many people consider Robert Redford’s portrayal of Roy Hobbs his finest acting role.

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Sports

Fall Sports Issue: Water Polo — Team hopes for a great year ahead

Ryan Sindon | September 4

UNM student-athlete Mason Burks sat across the table smiling, as he recounted some of the moments he spent during his time in the pool playing water polo. Burks, who was already acting as the Academic Support Chairman for his fraternity, working as a lifeguard and an active member of Students for Sustainable Drug Policies, was also nominated to be the president of the Water Polo Club this past summer. “I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter,” he said. “I guess the team figured I had the most experience amongst the group.”

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Sports

Fall Sports Issue: Men's Hockey — Lobos set hope to break through to national tournament

Robert Maler | September 4

As the New Mexico men’s hockey team practiced in preparation for the upcoming season, a prominent figure at UNM recently showed up to check things out at the Outpost Ice Arena. UNM men’s basketball head coach Paul Weir arrived before the practice and stuck around, seemingly enjoying the energy of the guys on the team. He said he thought it was phenomenal that UNM has a hockey program and plans to take his son to some games. “Just to feel their passion and excitement for their program was really fun to be around,” Weir said. “I look forward to following them and supporting them any chance I get.”

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Sports

Fall Sports Issue: Football — Studies reveal link between football and brain damage

Robert Maler | September 4

Over the summer, multiple reports announced the results of a recent brain study, which seemed to confirm a correlation between playing football and damage to the brain. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE, has become an all-too-familiar medical term in the sports vocabulary, and the risk of having it may increase along with the level of competition, as the hits accumulate. The Boston University study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found CTE, which can only be diagnosed post-mortem, in 110 of the 111 brains of ex-NFL players.

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Opinion

Fall Sports Issue: Column — Most memorable moments in Lobo history

Matthew Narvaiz | September 4

There are moments that define sports history at large. Spectacles such as the recent Mayweather-McGregor boxing match that, according to UFC president Dana White, sold 6.5 million pay-per-views — which would make it the most sold pay-per-view event of all time — and put on a 10-round show, that saw Floyd Mayweather win via TKO over the young-gun Conor McGregor. In other cases, there was one of the most famous Finals appearances, that saw — as many consider the greatest of all-time — Michael Jordan, while experiencing flu like symptoms, push his way to a 38-point performance to grab a 3-2 lead over the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Finals.

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Sports

Fall Sports Issue: Football — Senior safety Rothschiller picks up player of the week honors

Robert Maler | September 4

New Mexico football’s Jake Rothschiller earned the respect of his teammates, who named him to the leadership counsel and one of the team captains heading into the season. Now the Mountain West has recognized him for his accomplishments this week on the field. Rothschiller, a senior safety, may be smaller in stature at 5-8, 181 pounds, but played a big role in helping create separation between New Mexico and Abilene Christian on the way to a 38-14 victory in the season opener. He received Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week honors and seemed humbled to earn the distinction.

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Sports

Women’s Soccer: Lobos fall to Huskies' ruthless offense

Matthieu Cartron | September 4

It was only last week when University of New Mexico sophomore forward Jill Olguin found the back of the net in overtime to see off UTEP. But against the University of Washington, it was the Lobos that found themselves on the receiving end of the golden goal overtime rule. The Huskies (4-2) put substantial pressure on the Lobos (3-3) throughout the contest, registering 19 shots with six of them on target. UNM sophomore goalkeeper Emily Johnson made a season-high five saves, keeping the Lobos in the game until the early stages of overtime. Johnson made several outstanding saves, including one off of a dangerous free kick in the 12th minute that, if not for Johnson, would have snuck its way into the corner of the goal.

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Sports

Women’s Soccer: Lobos shutout Portland, play Huskies on Monday

Matthieu Cartron | September 4

Dominant, and in control, it was another night the Lobos were at their best defensively. The University of Portland (2-3) was coming off of a disappointing 3-0 loss to UC Irvine in California, but their plans to set their season back on course against New Mexico were thwarted by a patient and organized UNM side. The Lobos (3-2) asserted their dominance early on, and it wasn’t until the end of the first half that Portland began to have some influence on the game. Portland head coach Garret Smith bemoaned the early start.

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Sports

Volleyball: New Mexico goes 2-1 again, this time at Glory Road Invitational

Aaron Cowan | September 4

The New Mexico volleyball team opened the season with two wins and a loss at the Cyclone Invitational and duplicated those efforts over the weekend in another impressive showing. UNM racked up two victories to start the Glory Road Invitational in El Paso, Texas, which began on Sept. 1. The team notched wins over the Youngstown State Penguins and UTEP Miners, before getting stopped by the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. The Lobos swept the Penguins in straight sets 25-19, 25-20, 25-16 on Friday at Memorial Gym and followed it up on Saturday by shutting down the Miners, the Glory Road Invitational host school, in another three set sweep, 25-22, 25-18, 25-22.

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Sports

Men's Soccer: Lobos prep for meeting with Marquette

Cameron Goeldner | September 3

Following a 3-0 win over the UNLV Rebels, the New Mexico Men’s Soccer Team (1-2-0) will look to pick up its second win of the season against the Marquette Golden Eagles in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The game starts at 6:05 p.m. Monday and can be watched through a stream available at golobos.com. The Golden Eagles (0-1-1) are coming off of a 2-2 tie with UIC on Friday night. Marquette is lead by sophomore midfielder Luka Prpa, who was named to the Preseason All-Big East squad. Last season, Prpa scored 10 goals and recorded six assists and totaled 26 points en route to being named the Big East Freshman of the Year. Last year, the team went 5-7-4 (2-5-2 Big East) and tied for eighth in the Big East.

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Sports

Men's Soccer: Lobos notch first win over UNLV at home

Cameron Goeldner and Ajinkya Patil | September 3

Capitalizing off the momentum of an early UNLV red card, the New Mexico Men’s Soccer Team earned their first win of the season in a 3-0 victory over the Rebels in Albuquerque. The first half started of slowly for the Lobos, as the Rebels had three quick shots before the Lobos could counter. However, the run of play quickly changed in the 17th minute when UNLV's Danny Musovski had a late tackle on UNM’s Billy Jones and was shown a straight red card and sent off, leaving UNLV a man down for the rest of the match. From there, play quickly swung in favor of the Lobos.

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Sports

Football: Lobos adjust to pass early test, then cruise to victory over Wildcats

Robert Maler | September 3

Abilene Christian hung with New Mexico for much of the game, but the Lobos eventually pulled away to win their season opener on Saturday night at Dreamstyle Stadium. Head coach Bob Davie said Abilene Christian had a nice scheme, and it took his team a while to adjust to it. “Obviously, (there are) a lot of things that we have to improve on, but we’re 1-0,” Davie said. UNM was clicking early, as senior quarterback Lamar Jordan froze an ACU defender with a hesitation and reeled off a 27-yard run. He appeared to be going in for the touchdown, but was taken down at the seven — the tackle proved to be big.

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Sports

Football: Lobos kick off season by hosting Abilene Christian

Robert Maler | September 2

The New Mexico football team enter the 2017 campaign sporting the best two-year winning stretch in program history, and look to continue their winning ways at home. New Mexico will open up the season against Abilene Christian at the newly-dubbed Dreamstyle Stadium in the first ever meeting between the teams.

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Sports

Women’s Soccer: Lobos to face Pilots and Huskies this weekend

Matthieu Cartron | September 1

After a dramatic away win in El Paso against UTEP (0-4), UNM will be eager to produce more dominant, aggressive soccer on the road against the University of Portland and the University of Washington in Seattle. The Lobos (2-2) won their first away game of the season against El Paso, scoring in the 93rd minute through sophomore forward Jill Olguin’s low strike. The Lobos have had some trouble finding a way to score against well-organized, resilient opposition this season; Olguin’s goal ended a 249-minute goal drought for UNM. Despite the lack of goals, UNM is generating more chances going forward compared to the previous season. The Lobos finished the 2016 campaign with an average of 14.2 shots per game compared to this season’s average of 20.0.

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Sports

Baseball: Albuquerque Isotopes homer its way to victory in home finale

Aaron Cowan | September 1

The Albuquerque Isotopes dealt a loss to the Reno Aces, shutting them out 3-0 during the team's final home game Thursday at Isotopes Park. A near-capacity crowd of 12,234 attended to see the conclusion of the 15th season of Isotopes baseball, which extended its record to 39-32 in home games. According to the team website, Albuquerque is 66-71 and sits four and a half games behind El Paso in the Pacific Southern division.

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News

UNM names Nuñez as new Athletic Director

Gabriella Rivera and Cameron Goeldner | August 31

Eddie Nuñez, the Deputy Director of Athletics for Louisiana State University, has been named the 13th Athletic Director for the University of New Mexico, Interim President Chaouki Abdallah announced on Thursday. "We had a good search process that yielded three qualified and personable candidates," Abdallah said in a release. "We were looking for a leader who is dedicated to academic excellence, strong ethics, careful financial management and community engagement. The committee and I agreed that Eddie is the right person for this key position at UNM. Welcome to our Lobo family, Eddie.” Nuñez will replace Paul Krebs, who served in the position from 2006 until his retirement last June.