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Monday, September 08, 2008

Lobo Men's Soccer Team Falls to Louisville

By Glen Rosales
For the Journal
          It was a goalkeeper's worst nightmare.
        The ball was bounding free Sunday toward the University of New Mexico goal with only an opposing forward in chase.
        And moments later from his position on the ground, all Eric Staver could do was watch and hope.
        His hopes went unrealized, however, as the chipped shot off the foot of J.T. Murray, caught the inside of the far post and banked in 102nd minute to give Louisville a come-from-behind, 2-1 victory at the UNM Soccer and Track Complex.
        "I thought I could beat him to it," said Staver, who ranged far out of his area in attempt to thwart the play. "But he got there first. He tapped it by me and got a lucky shot."
        Indeed, the shot likely benefited from a stiff breeze that was blowing across the field.
        Even the start of the play was unfortunate for No. 21 New Mexico as it ricocheted off a Lobo before taking a big bounce toward the UNM net.
        "I just couldn't believe it," Staver said.
        Most of the Lobos seemed a little stunned as the Cardinals dog-piled Murray.
        "It's a part of the game," Staver said. "But, we're supposed to win games like this."
        After playing an even first half, Louisville actually had the better of the play in the second half.
        But New Mexico (2-1-1) struck in the 66th minute when Justin Davis took an attempted shot from about 30 yards out. Chris Wright intercepted it, however, turned and rolled one to the far corner for his second goal of the season.
        The Lobos didn't have much time to celebrate, though, as the Cardinals got it even on a header four minutes later.
        "I got a hand on it," Staver said. "It was a good, hard shot."
        Both teams had chances in the final 20 minutes of the match and overtime, but Louisville seemed to have more energy.
        UNM defender Mike Porter said the Lobos may have gotten out of their game plan a bit by trying to send the ball forward too much instead of plying their usual control passing game.
        "I think Friday's game might have had something to do with that," he said. "When you have tired legs, you'll do that sometimes. We need to keep our composure and focus on what we do."
        The game was physical throughout, Porter said.
        "It was just a dog fight," he said. "They just executed better than we did. We had our chances, we just didn't get the breaks."
        New Mexico doesn't have much time to recover with No. 5 Akron and No. 24 Cal-Poly visiting Albuquerque this weekend.
        "I think everyone showed a lot of heart," Porter said. "But we have a top-five team coming in with Akron and we have to be ready for that."