Runners enter bye on high note despite loss

RIO RANCHO – The New Mexico Runners took another loss on Sunday evening and dropped to 0-6, but that isn’t even close to the whole story.

They lost to the Wichita Wings, 10-8, which is both the closest loss by the Runners this season (by far) and the team’s highest point total. Even better, the Runners were actually leading (6-5) at halftime, the first time they’ve done so all season.

Runners’ striker Michael Stephens opened the scoring with an assist from Vince Aragon at the 13:22 mark in the first quarter. Michael Wissman followed that up less than two minutes later and the Runners jumped out to a hot 2-0 start. Wissman would go on to score two more times in the game and finish with three total.

That’s when Wichita Wings striker Kieran Laking exploded.

The Wings star came on the pitch at the start of the second quarter. By halftime, he’d scored a hat trick (three goals) and put the Runners on their heels. Laking would knock in one more in the fourth quarter and finish the game with four total goals.

The game came down to the wire, with the scoreboard reading 8-8 with just over seven minutes left. Both teams “parked the bus” (a defensive strategy focused on defending the goal at all costs and hoping for an opportunity to counterattack.)

In the end, the Wings managed to squeeze in two more goals and get the victory.

In the team’s first five games they lost by 10, 14, 5, 15 and 9. A two-point loss, especially when holding the opponent to 10 goals is a marked improvement for the Arena League team.

Perhaps even more telling of the Runners’ progress (and a possible indication they actually did better than the Wings, despite the score) is the number of shots. The Wings scored 10 goals on 40 shots. That’s a 25-percent scoring rate. The Runners scored eight goals on 17 shots, for a 47-percent scoring rate.

So, why the sudden uptick in effort and result? It’s entirely possible the close game is the result of a fresh coaching outlook.

Last week, the Runners held a press conference at High Noon Saloon in Albuquerque and announced Brian Weems as the new head coach.

Weems is the head coach of the Rio Grande Ravens, who just won the district title for the first time in school history. He brings with him over a decade of experience as both player and coach. He also brought some help.

The new head coach brought along three of his assistants from the Ravens, as well as Ryan Sanchez, the boys soccer head coach at Sandia High School.

“We’re definitely making moves in the right direction,” said team owner Andres Trujillo of his new head coach. “The team is starting to come together with structure... I think Weems is a great fit to build on the team culture, which the fans have noticed as well.”

The Runners are now entering an extended bye period where they’ll get a chance to concentrate on tactics and finding their rhythm under Weems’ direction.

“You know, it’s a process. I’ve been with these guys a week-and-a-half and we got better,” Weems told NM Runners media in a post-game interview. “I’m really confident we’ll take it to the next level, and the next level is ‘wins’.”

Weems will get a chance to work with his team without the pressure of an immediate match weighing down on him as the Runners are on bye (not playing games) for the next four weeks.

The team takes the pitch again Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. at the Rio Rancho Events Center for a rematch against the Wings.

“We got a few weeks, until our next home game. So, we’re pretty excited to see some results,” said Trujillo.

For more information, visit newmexicorunners.com.

WINGS 10, RUNNERS 8

{span style=”text-decoration: underline;”}Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th T{/span}

Wichita 1 4 1 4 10

New Mexico 3 3 0 2 8

Shots: W, 40; NM, 17. Rec. W, 9-2; NM 0-6.