Air Force Academy
New Mexico
Falcons Fall to #11 New Mexico, 1-0
11/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 3, 2006
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Mike Porter's goal in the 26th minute held up Friday night as the 11th-ranked New Mexico men's soccer team defeated Air Force, 1-0, in front of 1,361 fans in Albuquerque, N.M. With the victory, the Lobos improved to 12-3-3 overall and 7-1-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation while the Falcons fell to 4-12-1 and 3-6 in the MPSF.
New Mexico will host the University of Denver on Sunday afternoon for the MPSF Championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Porter scored his first goal of the season after taking a pass from Lars Loeseth and placing a shot from the top of the box past Falcon goalie Brian Guyette. Stephen Brown was also credited with an assist on the play.
The Falcons could not solve New Mexico goalie Mike Graczyk, who made four saves in posting his ninth shutout of the campaign. Senior Nathan Holloway led the Falcons with three shots, while senior Brendan Greenaway, sophomore Reid Gaiser and freshman Josh Rhynard each had two shots. Both of Rhynard's shots were on goal, while Gaiser and junior Jason Belvill each had one shot on goal.
The Falcons nearly tied the game late in the first half but sophomore Jason Dall's header off a corner kick hit the post in the 36th minute. New Mexico came close to a 2-0 lead in the second half when Chris Wright's shot was saved by senior Paul Elsbernd, who replaced Guyette at halftime, then Justin Davis' rebound shot was cleared off the line by a Falcon defender.
Guyette had two saves for Air Force, while Elsbernd had three. The Falcons close out the regular season on Sunday, Nov. 5 at UNLV beginning at 1 p.m. (PT).
