Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Silver and Gold teams get tarnished in doubleheader

Miners soccer team falls to United World College on Saturday

Submitted to El Defensor Chieftain, Nico Seamons and Willie Schaffer

The Miners dominated ball possession and had far more shots on goal than their opponents, but they lost two games to the Armand Hammer United World College, from Montezuma, N.M., on Saturday, Sept. 22, by scores of 2-0 and 2-1.

In the first game, both the Miners Gold team and UWC had some good plays, most ending in shots high or wide of the goal. However, Montezuma was the only team to score, their goals came within five minutes of each other in the first half. The first was on a header, the second was after a thoughtful give-and-go play broke through the Miners defense.

Miners Andy Herres and Santiago Flores had some good combinations that opened up the defense, however, Herres's shots were not able to find the net.

Nick Smallridge III had several good combinations and strong shots on goal, and bounced one off of the crossbar.

"UWC took really good advantage of our mistakes," said Miners coach Paul Fuierer , adding that the Miners needed a more organized attack. "We are too predictable, we dribble to the corner and then cross the ball into the center, that's not too hard for the opposing team to recognize and stop."

The second game went better for the Miners Silver team, and they were able to score one goal, but UWC still came up with the win.

The Miners' lone goal came when Sepp Fuierer intercepted a Montezuma ball, and passed to Tyson Gobble who crossed it into the center for Fred Ennin to pound it past the keeper into the net.

The Miners 1-0 lead ended quickly when a UWC player headed the ball in from a corner kick. Not long after, a penalty kick was awarded for a Miner's handball in the penalty area, which was converted.

A great opportunity for a comeback vanished in the second half, when a breakaway was stopped by a bad offside's call. The Miners were awarded a free kick but it did not compensate for the loss of the breakaway.

Miner player Chris Hatcher and most of the team agreed that better communication is needed to get the whole team moving at the same pace.

Coach Fuierer said the defense in front of the goal had to pull things together. "It's a very critical area."

The New Mexico Tech Miners will host the University of Texas in El Paso on Saturday, Sept. 29, at 11 a.m.; and Northern Arizona University on Sunday Sept. 30 at 11 a.m.. All soccer fans are welcome and admission is free. Both games will be played at the N.M. Tech athletic field.

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