Pre-season friendly - UNM 1, ND 2

The starting lineup for last night's friendly with Notre Dame listed in the box score as a 4-4-2 although Justin Davis played up front making it more of the 4-3-3 as Fishbein said he'd use. 

Substitutions/times in parentheses.

Chris Wright (Masashi Shibuya-43) - PJ Wilson (Stephen Brown-27/Andrew Parsons-45)

Justin Davis (James Urbany-33) - Lance Rozeboom (Michael Green-29) - Michael Reed - Jack Smithson

Gal Yaar - Zach Tierney - Simon Ejdemyr - Mike Porter (Ryan Farquharson-27)

Eric Staver

Second half lineup and substitutions:

Wright - Urbany (Wilson-55/Farquharson-71/Wilson-82/Urbany-89)

Davis (Shibuya-71/Davis-82) - Rozeboom (Green-78) - Reed - Green (Smithson-62)

Yaar - Tierney - Ejdemyr - Farquharson (Porter-60)

Staver (Justin Fite-60)

Overtime lineup and substitutions:

Wright - Urbany

Davis - Green - Reed - Smithson

Yaar - Tierney (Farquharson-103) - Ejdemyr - Porter

Fite

Full box score

Some observations:

Michael Reed still commits more dangerous turnovers than I'd like but the team's defensive positioning and recovery speed was evident for the most part.

Freshman Michael Green is the real deal. His first touch is stellar whether for himself or as a pass. His size, speed and positioning was very good and he made the team better when he was on. It'll take a bit of time to get completely comfortable with the system and his teammates but his presence excites me a lot. He did have one opportunity when JD put him through to the byline but his service across to the center was not good. Another time he had space at the top of the box and shot just wide.

Freshman Lance Rozeboom was good. He clearly had more familiarity than Green since he entered school in January and played in the spring. He also has size, speed and good ball skills. Excitement with him as well.

Freshamn Gal Yaar played every minute at left back. The job is his! This allows Stephen Brown to be part of the mix up front and in the midfield. Gal was calm on the ball and has the speed and positioning required to keep the defense at a high level. You can see his experience already.

Senior Mike Porter was solid at the right back position, a switch for him this year that allows sophomore Ryan Farquharson (who played every game at right back last year) to move in the mix in the midfield.

Both Notre Dames goals were sitting headers from six yards out. The first coming on a counter attack down the left and the second coming from an overlapping run on the right. Good crosses and good finishes by the ND players.

Notre Dame was not a threat in the first half but was much more assertive in the second half and overtime.

Stephen Brown was taken out in the 45th minute after coming on for PJ Wilson up front and playing 17 minutes. Brown gathered the ball at midfield in a breakaway situation. There was one Notre Dame defender back who challenged Brown at about 40 yards out cynically taking the man rather than playing the ball. It was a straight-on challenge and appropriately a yellow card was given. It was not red only because he did not come from behind to stop the promising break. Brown got up for the ensuing free kick but stayed off to the side. He hobbled for the next half minute before sitting down to stop play and get off the field. He did not come back in.

Zach Tierney's right knee was taken out in the 103rd minute. Not maliciously but definitely taken out. The play was consistently in the Notre Dame end of the field in the beginning stages of the second overtime including a corner kick and a couple of throw ins. As Notre Dame was trying to clear their end the ball was dropped to Zach on the right about 25 yards out. He ran onto the ball to cross it at the same time the ND player ran hard through the ball. Zach's right knee was taken out as he followed through in a violent collision. The linesman watched the whole thing and did not raise his flag and the center referee did not make the call. Zach did not get up. Eventually when play was stopped he was able to hobble off with assistance. We can hope it is just a sprain/contusion that he can recover from enough to play next Friday but that is uncertain at the moment.

Nearly 2,500 in attendance. Very good crowd with a good number of Notre Dame fans. Admission was free with the American Cancer Society taking donations.

Seth Neben not in roster and only three goal keepers warmed up (Staver, Fite, and Rodriguez). Not sure where Freshman GK Justin Holmes was.

Two gimps (I believe they were Euan Holden and David Murphy) during warm ups. Both participated lightly but did not suit up. Holden's leg was wrapped and Murphy had a heavy knee brace on.

Zach grew long hair. He looked so different that I did not recognize him until the team came out with their numbers on. During warm-ups I was wondering who the new player was.

Looks like it's Eric Staver's job to lose now which is what most observers had previously assumed.

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