Lobos Fall in Double Overtime at #23 Tulsa

September 7, 2018

TULSA, Okla. --- The University of New Mexico men's soccer team battled No. 23 Tulsa for over 107 minutes, but ultimately dropped a heartbreaker in double overtime 2-1 on Friday night on the road. The contest marked the first to reach overtime this season for UNM and served as the Lobos' fourth game against a ranked team so far this season. 

"Tonight was a tough one, the guys really battled and they really played well," head coach Jeremy Fishbein said. "To our guys' credit, we opened the second half strong and tied up the game. We had better chances in the second half, but we had two really good ones we didn't finish. 

"They hit an incredible goal to win it but our guys showed a lot of courage and tenacity tonight and I'm proud of them. It's a tough one to swallow but we'll recover and be ready to play on Tuesday."

The Lobos (2-3-0) are now 1-1-1 all-time against Tulsa (3-1-1) in overtime and 0-2-0 when the Golden Hurricanes are ranked.

Tulsa dominated the offensive attack, rattling off 25 shots including 12 on goal, but redshirt-junior Ford Parkerkept his composure and posted a career-high nine saves. The UNM record book posts 10 saves as the eighth-most saves in a single match in program history, including twice by Parker's predecessor Jason Beaulieu last season.

Neither team was able to find the back of the net throughout the first 40 minutes of play, but as the end of the first half approached, the Golden Hurricanes picked up the pace. Freshman Gilles Kuhler fired from 12 yards out right up the middle past Parker to put Tulsa up 1-0 at the 42:57 mark just before the break. 

At the half, the Golden Hurricanes led in shots 8-2 with the pair coming from sophomores Matt Puig and Nick Taylor

The Lobos rocketed out of the locker room in the second half, netting the equalizer just 2:02 into the period. Freshman Omar Grey notched his third goal of his inaugural season after collecting and putting away a rebound from redshirt-junior Tom Smart, who bounced a shot off of a Tulsa defender in the box.

The rest of the match was all defense as Parker was forced to make just one save in the first half, followed by eight more throughout the remainder of play, including a blocked header at the 65:35 mark on the way to double overtime. 

The disparity between the squads narrowed over the two overtime periods as Tulsa outshot the Lobos just 5-2 and posted three corner kicks to just one for the Lobos. UNM had just one corner all game, in the final overtime period. Prior to Friday night, UNM averaged 5.75 corner kicks per game so far this season.

Tulsa claimed the gamewinner with just 2:11 left on the clock on a shot into the upper right corner from 15 yards for the win.

The Lobos are set to return to action on Tuesday at the UNM Soccer Complex as they host UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m.

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