A moment of silence

A sad moment for college soccer just now.

In an empty neutral-venue stadium two time zones from their school, New Mexico's once proud and prestigious program just played what, barring a miracle, was their last game ever as the Lobos fell to Old Dominion 4-0 in the Conference USA quarterfinals.

With a losing record that is more about what the school did to the program than the team itself, New Mexico's season is over and it was announced this summer that the sport will be dropped at UNM after this season.

It's a shitty way for this program to go out, there is likely no good way to end a program. But this was once a top team: They were national runners-up in 2005 and made the College Cup again in 2013. They are the last college program to finish undefeated after going unbeaten in the 2011 regular season then falling in PKs in the third round of the NCAA Tournament (game counts as a tie). They've produced a handful of MLS players and a couple who've gone on to play internationally.

This really sucks.

The good news is most of the players who want to play elsewhere are good enough to be able to do so and head coach Jeremy Fishbeing will be a coveted target for a good program, assuming he wants to continue coaching college soccer. (He'd be a great fit at Rutgers, IMO.)

So, here's to a great run and sorry it had to end so soon.

 

I forget the exactly "when" it happened but since MLS started and the country started taking soccer more seriously, Vanderbilt, East Carolina, North Texas, Fresno State, Mount St. Mary's (brought it back), Maine, Alabama A&M, Richmond, Towson, Buffalo and Charleston Southern have all dropped men's soccer. There may have been a few more.

And these programs have gone from D-I to D-III in the same timeframe: Hartwick, Adelphi, Oneonta State, Philadelphia, and probably some others I can't remember.