Posted from TaosNews.com: Friday, April 25, 2014
It was an avalanche of goals for the New Mexico Lobos in their 6-1 exhibition victory over the Fort Lewis Skyhawks, Saturday (April 19) at the Taos Eco Park.
Niko Hansen recorded a hat trick and Ben McKendry chipped in a pair of goals as the Lobos overwhelmed Fort Lewis with five goals in the second half.
UNM peppered the goal with 17 shots in the match to just four by the Skyhawks. New Mexico also had a handful of shots hit the crossbar and post.
After scoring once in the first half, the Lobo attack was lethal early and often in the second half.
New Mexico tallied 12 shots with nine being on goal in the second 45 minutes of the match. McKendry started things off with his first goal just three minutes into the half after forcing a turnover in the Skyhawk backline.
Hansen scored his second goal of the match on a one-man attack. The forward received a pass at the corner of the box.
He faked a pass backwards as a defender slid past him. Hansen then juked another defender before drawing out the keeper and calmly slotting away the goal.
McKendry tallied his second score less than two minutes after Hansen’s 57th minute goal. The sophomore capitalized on a through pass from James Rogers in a full sprint.
McKendry went around the charging keeper before putting away the empty-net goal.
After giving up a Fort Lewis goal in the 70th minute, the Lobos padded their 4-1 lead with a pair of goals in the final eleven minutes of the game.
Hansen completed his trifecta by scoring in the 79th minute off a Josh Dye assist before a Rogers-McKendry double assist set up Christopher Wehan for the sixth and final goal with two minutes remaining.
The Lobos entered halftime with a one-goal advantage and an upper hand in the first-half statistics.
New Mexico found their way onto the scoreboard 25 minutes into the match when Christopher Wehan attacked down the middle of the field.
Wehan drove to the top of the box before sending a perfectly-timed pass to a streaking Hansen. Hansen slotted away the goal with ease for the score.
Ben McKendry nearly scored on two separate occasions in the final minutes of the half. The midfielder forced a save off a header attempt from the top of the box before unleashing a 35-yard bomb that missed wide of an unsuspecting Fort Lewis goalkeeper.
New Mexico’s six goals on Saturday were more than their previous three exhibitions combined (four goals).
The second-half goal conceded to Fort Lewis was the first goal allowed by the Lobos in the previous 272 minutes of action. For the spring, Hansen (four goals) and McKendry (three goals) have combined for 70.0 percent of the team’s scoring.
New Mexico will wrap up its spring schedule Saturday, May 3, against FC Tucson of the Premier Development League.
