Lobos Shocked, Beaten 1-0 in OT By Air Force
The No. 5 ranked New Mexico Lobos were shocked 1-0 in overtime by the defensive-minded Air Force Falcons, who got offensive with 6:23 to play in the extra period.
Falcon Caleb Downey muscled a shot past UNM keeper Victor Rodriguez to shock both the Lobos and send them plummeting down in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings with a 0-1 mark. "It's a reality check," said Lobo Coach Jeremy Fishbein. The loss snapped New Mexico's regular season home winning streak of 13 and stopped the Lobos from tying the program's home-unbeaten streak of 18 games without a loss.
The two teams played to a 0-0 first half before Air Force cracked the UNM defense and bulled a shot past Rodriguez.
The loss dropped UNM to 8-2 overall. Air Force is 5-5-1 and 1-0 in league play.
The defensive-minded Falcons gave the Lobos a lot of opportunities to attack as there was little Air Force pressure at the midfield. However, the box was a different creature as the Falcons gave the Lobos little space in which to create.
UNM's last regular season home loss was on October 10th, 2010 to Air Force.
You don't get the Falcons into a shooting match. The previous five games between UNM and Air Force also were decided by one goal. The two teams all-time series record is now 19-18-1 - in Air Force's favor. However, Coach Fishbein is now 14-4-1 vs. Air Force.
First Half: New Mexico Lobos 0, Air Force Falcons 0
The first half wasn't exactly thrilling soccer thanks to Air Force hunkering down on defense. If the Falcons had a strategy for their upset bid over No. 5 New Mexico, it probably was to hope for a breakaway goal on one end and beat the Lobos with numbers on the back side.
The Falcons came into Albuquerque with the MPSF's poorest scoring offense with seven goals in 10 games. However, the Falcons also came in with three shutout wins. They got a fourth Friday night at UNM's expense.
Air Force took one shot in the first half. The Lobos managed four, had one on-goal and James Rogers had one good look, but missed wide. His shot came with about ten minutes to play and came off a UNM attack down the right side that ended with the ball being centered to Rogers. His booming shot went wide to the far side.
Rogers had an earlier look just under the 20 minute mark. He one touched a long pass but, running at full speed at a fast-rolling ball, could only send a shot high over the Air Force net.
Rogers got off three of UNM's four shots in the first half and had the one shot on-goal. The Lobos had a single corner kick. Air Force had seven fouls and UNM had five.
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