Sports

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.

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Sports

Men's Soccer: Lobos hope to improve their luck on the road

Cameron Goeldner | August 30

Looking to rebound from a 0-2 road trip to start the season, the New Mexico Men’s Soccer Team will take on UNLV (1-1-0) on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the UNM Soccer Complex. As a result of their rough start, the team has dropped out of the NSCAA rankings. The game will be shown on the Mountain West Network, with a link available through golobos.com. For soccer, UNLV plays in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and are the defending Tournament champions; they’re coming off a 1-0 overtime loss to Oregon State. The team’s win came last Friday when they upset No.15 Portland on a last-second header. The Rebels return all 11 of their starters from last season and 18 total letter winners.

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Sports

Women’s Soccer: Late Olguin strike sees off UTEP in El Paso

Matthieu Cartron | August 30

In the Rio Grande Rivalry game last week, the Lobos seemed to dominate the Aggies and came close to scoring but couldn’t find the net — and late into the game, UNM was punished on a counterattack. But on Saturday in a game against UTEP, it was the Lobos that finally broke through dramatically. It was a game with high stakes; both UNM (2-2) and UTEP (0-4) had likely hoped for stronger starts to their seasons. Both teams fought hard and defended well, but UNM had the majority of the possession and registered 23 shots, with 11 of them on target.

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Sports

Men's soccer: UNM opens season 0-2, losing again by a one-goal margin

Cameron Goeldner and Ajinkya Patil | August 28

Despite a career high 10-save effort from goalkeeper Jason Beaulieu, the New Mexico men’s soccer team was unable to generate any offense and fell to the Seattle Redhawks on Sunday by a score of 1-0. From the outset, Seattle (2-0-0) controlled the first half of action, showcasing a prolific attack that quickly had the Lobos on their heels.

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Sports

Women’s Volleyball: Lobos score two victories and suffer one loss at Cyclone Invitational

Aaron Cowan | August 27

The Lobos began the volleyball season in familiar fashion, sweeping their opponent in the opener on Thursday at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. Lobo women’s volleyball has not lost an opening game in the 11 years that Jeff Nelson has been the head coach, a release said. That streak continued with their win against the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks in three straight sets 25-21, 25-17 and 25-20. With nine new freshmen players on the roster, many of the student-athletes may have felt they had something to prove to the head coach that placed his trust in them — and the new recruits delivered.

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Sports

Men's Soccer: Lobos take on Redhawks after opening night loss

Cameron Goeldner | August 27

After an opening night 2-1 loss to No.11 Washington, the Lobos look to rebound against the Seattle Redhawks (1-0-0) on Sunday at 7 p.m. in Seattle. The Redhawks also opened their season last Friday with a 1-0 win over Loyola Marymount, a win which extended the longest active home winning streak in Division I soccer to 17 games. The Redhawks are lead by coach Pete Fewing, who is in his second stint as a Redhawks coach and lead the team to their first-ever Sweet 16 appearance in 2015.

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Sports

Men's Soccer: Lobos fall short in Seattle

Ajinkya Patil | August 26

The University of New Mexico's men's soccer team launched their season with a closely contested game against the University of Washington on Aug. 25. Despite the team's efforts, the Lobos fell to a 2-1 defeat. Each team dominated half of the game. Washington registered five shots on target, while the Lobos only landed one. In search of a goal to get back in to the game, the Lobos changed formation, registering seven shots in the second half compared to Washington's three.