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Goal before halftime seals win for UNM
New Mexico’s Patrick Pacheco and DU’s Matt Kirby chase down a loose ball on Sunday at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium. (photo by George Tanner/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)
DENVER — The University of Denver men’s soccer team is at its best in close quarters. When one of the Pioneers closes in on an opponent who has the ball, it’s in that player’s best interest to find a teammate to pass to. Quickly. Otherwise, he’s likely to turn the ball over and wind up on the ground in the process.
DU is aggressive, tenacious and physical on defense, and the Pioneers use those qualities to produce turnovers and feed the offense.
On Sunday, New Mexico found a way to minimize those qualities in Denver’s game, and the Lobos came away with a 2-1 victory over their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival.
The visiting Lobos exploited their speed, focused on quick passes and used open spaces to maintain a healthy distance between themselves and DU’s players. Those quick, precise passes to open players bought New Mexico time to move forward and time of possession, and they turned that into first-half goals by Michael Reed and P.J. Wilson.
Reed opened the scoring in the 15th minute with a blast. From about 30 yards out, Reed smashed a ball that appeared to be going wide to the left of Denver’s goal. But the ball curled back and slipped inside the left post, giving UNM an early one-goal lead.
The Lobos continued to carry the play, but DU caught a break in the 25th minute when New Mexico center back Simon Ejdemyr climbed over a Denver player’s back for a header. He was whistled for a foul, and DU was awarded a free kick.
Jarod Stigall lined up for the kick and noticed UNM goalkeeper Justin Fite creeping forward a bit too much, perhaps trying to anticipate a pass to the group of players jostling in the penalty area.
Stigall, though, had other ideas. In a downpour of fat, wet snowflakes, the sophomore from Plano, Texas, cracked a shot that flew over Fite and under the crossbar for a goal.
“I was just trying to put it on frame,” he said. “I wasn’t really trying to shoot. Luckily the goalkeeper was out far enough so it just went over him. Luckily I hit it on target.”
New Mexico didn’t let Stigall’s tying goal interrupt the flow of the game. The Lobos continued to press, and P.J. Wilson put them back on top about three minutes before halftime. Deep in the DU end, he made a run from the right sideline toward the middle, about 10 yards from the end line. His shot beat DU goalkeeper Joe Willis and dampened DU’s spirits shortly before the teams headed to their locker rooms.
“We tied the game, and you would have thought there would have been more energy,” Pioneers coach Bobby Muuss said. “Then it was a backbreaker to give up a goal against a team that does a terrific job of getting numbers behind the ball. As soon as they turn the ball over, they do a great job of getting behind the ball, making it difficult to get in behind them.”
Ejdemyr is a big part of that discipline. New Mexico’s Euan Holden, David Murphy, Reed and the big Swede make a formidable wall that Stigall said was difficult to penetrate.
“They’re pretty solid in the back,” Stigall said. “Simon is a great center back, so it is pretty tough to get in behind them. They’re a very good team.”
New Mexico carried the first half, but DU’s attack grew in intensity as the game progressed. By the final 20 minutes or so, the Pioneers were attacking with confidence. Collin Audley found Blake Shannon pinching forward from his left-back spot, but Shannon’s shot at went high with about 17 minutes to play.
With 10 minutes left, DU substitute Josh Wren forced a brilliant diving save out of Fite. The UNM goalkeeper got completely horizontal and saved the victory by stopping the ball before it crossed the line in the lower right corner.
Nathan Sackeyfio hammered a shot wide left in the 84th minute, and Fite came up with another save after a tic-tac-toe play between Alex DeCosta, Sackeyfio and Jesse Henderson with just less than 3 minutes left.
Ejdemyr blocked a shot by Alex Tarnoczi with about 90 seconds left in the game, and that was DU’s last chance at the equalizer.
“I thought we lacked a lot of energy in the first half, and we brought that in the second half,” Muuss said. “It seems like we almost feel more comfortable being down a goal, with the way we play and we connect passes and we press the other team and the urgency that we play with, than when it’s even.
“They’re a disciplined team. So you know that if you go down a goal, it’s going to be a tough one to get it back.”
RECORDS: DU fell to 3-8-3 overall, 0-3-1 in the MPSF. New Mexico is now 9-5 overall. In conference, the Lobos are 3-1.
PROLIFIC: Stigall’s goal was his third of the weekend for DU. He scored twice in the final 15 minutes of a 2-2 tie against Nevada-Las Vegas on Friday in Denver.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Muuss thought one player made a big difference for the Lobos, sophomore Michael Green, so I’ll defer to the coach’s judgment. “Michael Green was everywhere,” Muuss said. “I thought he was special tonight, the way he linked the team from the backs and the midfield to the attacking players.”
SAVE OF THE MATCH: Fite’s stop on Wren’s header.
WEATHER MATTERS: When I arrived at the game, it was snowing. But it was a light, fluffy snow. And the temperature was high enough that I wondered if I even needed to bring my coat with me. Good thing I did. The temperature dropped as the game wore on, perhaps by as much as 20 degrees. It was 36 degrees when the game ended. In the first half, snow blew onto the field from the south, from the northwest and then from the northeast. There was even one point when it was snowing hard on the south end of the pitch and barely snowing on the opposite end, where I was standing. The direction of the snow swirled around, but there was little wind. That changed at halftime. Although there was little or no snow at the intermission, a breeze began, and it picked up as play resumed. The second half was cold and windy, and the snow started again. It began as blowing, dry snow, and it turned into large wet snow by the end of the match. New Mexico players were complaining about the cold on the sideline, but it didn’t affect their play on the field.
NEW MEXICO STARTERS: Justin Fite, Simon Ejdemyr, David Murphy, Euan Holden, Justin Davis, Stephen Brown, Michael Reed, Michael Green, Lance Rozeboom, James Urbany, Ryan Farquharson.
DENVER STARTERS: Joe Willis, Michael Perry, Kris Banghart, Alex DeCosta, Jesse Henderson, Alex Tarnoczi, Blake Shannon, Kyle Varvil, Matt Kirby, Jarod Stigall, Collin Audley.
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