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Saturday, November 24, 2001
FIU falls to New Mexico
in NCAA first round
 he
University of New Mexico men’s soccer team continued its
postseason hot streak, beating FIU, 1-0, in the first round of
the NCAA Championships played late Friday night in Dallas, Tex.
The Golden Panthers end their season at 10-8-0.
UNM midfielder Junro Narita scored to the near post
on a header off a corner kick at 23:46 to give the Lobos (7-11-2)
their first-ever NCAA Tournament win. New Mexico faces top-ranked
and host SMU, Sunday.
Despite outshooting UNM, 16-9, FIU could never get into an
offensive rhythm when, five minutes after kick-off, the contest
was delayed approximately 50 minutes due to strong thunderstorms
in the area.
The Golden Panthers most serious scoring opportunities came
in the second half when an Alvaro
Aservi shot hit off the cross bar, then later leading-scorer
Matias
Asorey’s point-blank attempt was stopped by UNM
goalkeeper Andrew Weber.
"New Mexico seemed to want this game more than we did,"
said a disheartened FIU head coach Karl
Kremser. "It was such a disappointment. It was almost
like we were looking ahead to SMU on Sunday."
The Lobos’ win was their third straight shutout with
Weber collecting six total saves. New Mexico earned the Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation automatic berth by winning the league
tournament from the No. 8 seed. |