DAILY LOBO new mexico
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
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monday November 25, 2013
Men nip George Mason, head to Sweet 16 By J.R. Oppenheim
assistantsports@dailylobo.com @JROppenheim Coach Jeremy Fishbein said his New Mexico men’s soccer team plays like a confident group right now. Completing a strong inaugural season in the tough Conference USA can do that. That confidence showed through in the NCAA soccer tournament’s second round on Sunday. Though the Lobos let George Mason hang around for a while, senior forward James Rogers scored a late game-winner for a 1-0 victory over the Patriots. UNM advanced to the NCAA tournament’s third round. The win puts the Lobos into the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 for the third straight year, and its fifth trip since 2005. The Lobos host either Penn State or UC Santa Barbara next Sunday at the UNM Soccer Complex. “We’re really battle-tested this year,” Fishbein said. “I think we all felt much different coming the NCAA tournament this year than we have in the past coming out of conference play, where we played such quality teams. We felt really prepared.” Fishbein said his team entered this year’s national tournament with a different mentality than it had in the past. Completing its inaugural run in the tough Conference USA contributed to a high level of play UNM hadn’t experienced as a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation team. The league, boasting a high RPI all season, put three teams in the tournament. That confidence showed on the offensive end, as the Lobos played often in its own attacking half. They took 19 shots, including six on goal, while George Mason only shot six times with two on goal.
Sergio Jiménez / @SXfoto /Daily Lobo Forward James Rogers, left, and midfielder Niko Hansen embrace during the game against George Mason University at the UNM Soccer Complex on Sunday evening. Rogers scored the game-winning goal, thanks to an assist from Hansen, after 82 minutes of scoreless play. The win puts the Lobos into the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 for the third straight year and its fifth since 2005. However, missed opportunities and not putting teams away are problems that plagued UNM this season, especially in the nonconference slate. This time, those issued didn’t come back to bite the Lobos. The teams played scoreless soccer through 82 minutes until the Lobos broke through. Rogers passed the ball to Niko Hansen on the play, who returned it to Rogers through GMU defensive traffic for the deciding goal. Rogers made a diving shot to record
his seventh goal this season. During the celebration after the goal, UNM gathered around the corner flag on the near side and it broke. Rogers received a yellow-card warning as a result. About five minutes after the goahead goal, both teams exchanged near misses in close succession. George Mason’s Brice Colcombe took a shot at UNM’s net that goalkeeper Michael Lisch saved with a diving effort. One minute later,
Christopher Wehan had an open shot from the close left wing but it ricocheted off the post. The Lobo freshman took one more shot in the final minute that was blocked by a defender. Seven different Lobos attempted shots, led by Ben McKendry’s six and Wehan’s five. George Mason goalkeeper Steffen Kraus made five saves. “We’ve been a pretty good defensive team all year. That’s been our backbone,” George Mason coach Greg
Andrulis said. “We knew they were very dynamic, great on the break, and we matched up in some respects. Obviously they got the goal on the break and caught us.” Fishbein said it was good to get a game like this under his team’s belt moving forward. “We were fortunate that we didn’t allow them to do that,” he said. “We defended real well. I was happy with aspects of our play. I didn’t think we were as good as we could have been.”
GPSA seeks business loans for NM grads Group hopes funding will keep grads in state
by Stephanie Hoover news@dailylobo.com @StephCHoover
UNM’s Graduate and Professional Student Association Lobby Committee is working to pass new state legislation that would give recent graduates a leg up on funding for their in-state businesses. The Statewide Entrepreneurial Economic Development (SEED) Act would create an appropriation for investments on behalf of the state by using a portion of funding from the state, said Luke Holmen, research chair of the Lobby Committee in a GPSA meeting Saturday. The money would come from the New Mexico Private Equity Investment Program, Holmen said. An administration would be set up with representatives from UNM, New Mexico State University and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to direct the funds, he said. “What we are doing here is we are trying to target recent graduate students to keep them in the state and to foster economic growth in the state,” he said. “So, anybody who has graduated with a bachelor’s
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through professional degree, including Ph.D., would be eligible if they have graduated in the last five years from one of those three institutions.” The SEED Act would use 0.5 percent of the $202 million from the New Mexico Private Equity Investment Program, amounting to about $1 million annually. Recent graduates must be owners, co-owners or partners of a New Mexico business that already exists to be eligible for funding, Holmen said. The funds would function like a stock, with the state investing in the company, Holmen said. “(The state) would buy a portion of the company,” he said. “And hopefully the company is successful. So hopefully, the state makes money, and the recent graduates are given opportunities to succeed.” The State Investment Council, a state organization that decides how to spend the state’s money in order to create more jobs in New Mexico, runs the investment program. But Holmen said the New Mexico Private Equity and Investment Program has not been very successful so far. Between
1993 and 2004, the program lost 18.2% of the money the council invested, and 3.2% between 2004 and 2010, according to the 2013 Q2 investment review of the program conducted by the state. “The point of that is that the state isn’t making very good investment choices with its money right now,” he said. “So, we are hoping that we can provide and be aware that we can actually make money and … there’s research that shows we can have that.” Other universities around the nation have similar programs which have been very profitable, according to a 2010 study by Oxford University. In the 13 universities surveyed, the programs started with a combined $19.4 million which was increased, through investments, to $39.8 million in 2010. However, the survey was conducted on student-run ventures, while the SEED Act would be headed by state organizations. “The point is that these types of funds have been very successful, much more successful than the average venture capital investment programs in the nation right now,” Holmen said.
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The bill is being reviewed by legislators at the New Mexico Legislature, Holmen said. They are looking for sponsors of the bill, as well as stories of graduates who now run successful businesses or graduates who would be successful with this type of program, he said. The Lobby Committee has between 10 to 12 members, and will be sending members up to the Legislature each day during the session to lobby for the bill, Holmen said. The 2014 legislative session begins Jan. 21 and lasts through Feb. 20. Holmen said the act will be successful because it dovetails nicely with existing organizations. It will also supplement Innovate ABQ, a proposed technology and business entrepreneurial incubator that the city of Albuquerque and UNM are putting together. “We think that universities are a good pick to administrate these funds because they represent a culmination of business and tech transfer and science experts,” he said. “We have several institutions that are already set up at each of these universities that would be able to probably provide representatives that would help us manage this funding. So the expertise is really at the university level.”
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