ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The fifth-ranked University of New Mexico men's soccer team opened its exhibition schedule with a 3-0 win over Fort Lewis College Monday night at the UNM Soccer Complex.

Niko Hansen opened the scoring in the sixth minute by converting a nice pass from Ben McKendry, who had deftly kept possession of the ball near the touchline in the box. McKendry slid a pass to Hansen who easily knocked it home from about four yards out.

That was the only scoring for the Lobos in the first half as the Skyhawks didn't manage their first shot until the 30th minute. It went well wide and was their only registered shot all game.

Kevin Correa made the count 2-0 early in the second half. James Rogers made a couple of nice moves in the box and he found the junior all alone on the doorstep for a two-goal lead in the 49th minute.

Rogers then closed the scoring with a tally of his own in the 58th minute. Keeper Jason Beaulieu started the play with a beautiful long throw up the near touchline to Sam Gleadle. The freshman touched it ahead before his cross found Rogers in the box. The senior corralled it and smoothly slid it past the Fort Lewis keeper to close out the scoring.

Scoring Summary
New Mexico (5:11): Niko Hansen (Ben McKendry)
New Mexico (48:43): Kevin Correa (James Rogers)
New Mexico (57:15): James Rogers (Sam Gleadle)

Lineups
New Mexico: Poblete(GK), Gibbons, McGovern, Miele, McKendry, Rogers, Fisher, Hansen, Gurule, Dye

Quotable
"I thought we came out (and played) pretty well. We started a pretty veteran team. I thought the guys were quite good. Fort Lewis sat in and defended with big numbers. We found the first goal, and we really needed to find that second goal to open them up and bring them out a little bit. I thought we played pretty well." - Coach Fishbein's thoughts on the Lobos' performance

"It was great to get guys minutes playing on our field, in front of our crowd and wearing our jersey. That's what it's all about. It felt really good to get everybody in and get a little run. I thought our guys played well." - Coach Fishbein on getting new players some playing time

"It's always nice to get out there and go against some new guys. You get to see how all your hard work goes and how it's executed. Our energy was awesome." - Niko Hansen on the opportunity to play against an opponent for the first time this season

"We need to just keep building. Every single game we need to keep building because we can always get better. This is the beginning of the season and we have a long way to go. We need to keep building every game. There's little details we can improve on, so that's what we need to do every game." - James Rogers on the team's approach through its next two exhibition games

Next up
The Lobos travel to Air Force to face the Falcons in their second exhibition game on Wednesday, Aug. 20 at 2:30 p.m. MT. UNM's next and final exhibition game is at the UNM Soccer Complex against Denver on Saturday, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m.

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