Lobos Shut Out Old Dominion on Senior Night

November 4, 2016

PHOTO GALLERY

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --- The University of New Mexico Lobos claimed their seventh shutout of the season and completed the regular season undefeated at home on Friday night with a 2-0 victory over Old Dominion (5-8-2, 2-5-1 C-USA) at the UNM Soccer Complex on senior night. With the victory, the Lobos improve to 10-6-1 overall and break .500 in Conference USA play, 4-3-1. UNM completed its home schedule 8-0-1 in 2016 and extends its scoring streak to nine games.

The win elevates the Lobos' conference points to 13, currently keeping them in fifth place heading into next week's Conference USA Tournament.

Prior to kick off on Friday evening, the Lobos honored seniors Nick Rochowski, Josh Goss, Niko Hansen, Chris Wehan and Chris Gurule on the rainy, windy night.

It was Wehan who earned the game-winning goal in the 57th minute of the match on the Lobos' first penalty kick of the season before junior Luke Lawrence netted his third goal of the season for the 2-0 win.

"I'm real happy with tonight's performance," head coach Jeremy Fishbein said. "We started off defensively - that was our goal, to get the shutout. I thought we played really well in good, key moments of the game and then created a lot of offense. We had two nice goals and some other quality chances including Wehan's PK, which was well-deserved."

Wehan's goal came after a first half that, despite a dominating offensive Lobo performance, yielded a 0-0 score at halftime. Defensively UNM refused to allow Old Dominion a single shot on goal in the first frame and had a few close chances offensively, including a close header off of a corner kick by Rochowski that was punched over the crossbar at the last second by Monarch keeper Alex Tiesenhausen.

At the half, the Lobos had accumulated six shots and six corner kicks to one shot and no corners for the Monarchs.

Wehan was fouled at the 57:28 mark just inside the 18-yard box and lined up for his first penalty kick of the season. He connected on his third successful PK of his career finding the bottom right corner of the net to put the Lobos up 1-0. Wehan is now 3-for-3 in penalty kicks in his career. His goal marks his sixth of the season, 29th of his career and his 65th career point which ties him for seventh in Lobo history. Watch Wehan's goal here:

The Lobos continued a near flawless defensive performance to keep Old Dominion scoreless before the UNM offense struck again in the form of a swift play by redshirt-sophomore Patrick Khouri, sophomore Aaron Herrera and Lawrence in the 81st minute. Khouri sent the ball out to the close right wing where Herrera was waiting to one-touch it into the center of the box. Lawrence quickly fired from there for the 2-0 advantage. Watch Lawrence's goal here:

The Monarchs were unable to overcome the deficit as they posted just five shots, two on goal, on the night. The shutout is the seventh for the Lobos this season, but also marks keeper Jason Beaulieu's 15th of his career which ties him for fourth in Lobo history. Beaulieu posted two saves compared to nine for Tiesenhausen and improves to 10-6-1 on the season.

Overall the Lobos outshot Old Dominion 16-5, including 11 shots on goal, and dominated in corner kicks 8-2. Wehan led the Lobos with three shots on goal, followed by Goss and Rochowski who each posted two.

Friday's contest marks the final game of the regular season for UNM. The Lobos are set to return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 9 in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament against an opponent to be determined.