For United, the fireworks come too late after the 2-3 defeat against Memphis

Oct. 26 – New Mexico United's margin of error officially expired on Saturday evening.

United narrowly missed their final chance to build postseason momentum, ending the regular season with a 3-2 loss to Memphis 901 FC at Isotopes Park.

Greg Hurst and Marlon Vargas scored for United, but two agonizingly close goals in the final minutes failed to equalize in either team's regular-season finale. New Mexico outscored Memphis 15-5 (5-3 in shots on goal) and had 64% of the possession, but came away frustrated – as did the lively crowd of 10,220.

“To concede three goals at home in front of a crowd like this is extremely disappointing,” said United coach Eric Quill. “I take full responsibility for the result. Mistakes were made tonight that simply can’t be made.”

It was an unfortunate end to an impressive season for New Mexico, which finished first in the USL Championship's Western Conference and will host No. 8 seed Phoenix Rising FC in the first round of the playoffs on Nov. 3. Phoenix was held to eighth place after a 4-1 loss to Louisville City on Saturday.

But United will begin the postseason with their first real extended funk of the season. NMU went 0-3-2 in its last five games, and Quill didn't mince words about his team's uninspired performance.

“We’re in first place, but we’re not first place right now,” he said. “We have to make some tough decisions this week about what lineup we need to have going into the playoffs. If we play like we did in the first 65 minutes tonight, we’ll be one and done.”

Memphis, which had a home playoff game at stake Saturday, fared better and took fewer chances. The visitors swept NMU's two-game season series after a 2-1 decision at Memphis earlier this season.

United almost recovered from a 3-1 hole on Saturday when Vargas scored NMU's first goal in stoppage time to reduce the deficit to one goal. Avionne Flanagan hit the crossbar moments later, and Kalen Ryden headed a hard shot just over the crossbar in the closing seconds.

“Obviously our first half was a little sloppy and we weren’t able to capitalize on our opportunities,” Vargas said. “But I felt like we really got it towards the end of the second half. We can certainly build on that next week.”

Things could hardly have started worse for the home team, who fell behind after less than two minutes. Memphis' Bruno Lapa got free from a cross to the right wing and centered the ball to teammate Jon Bakero, who put a relatively easy one-timer into the net.

It remained 1-0 until the 20th minute – also known as the Magic Minute in United home games. Just as the crowd grew louder, NMU's Will Seymore centered a ball near the right baseline where it hit the feet of Hurst, who redirected the goal.

Hurst's 12th goal of the season leveled the score, but it wouldn't stay that way for long. In the 25th minute, Lapa sent a pass forward that Samuel Careaga caught on the run. Careaga ended a long run with a shot that United goalkeeper Alex Tambakis got his hands on but couldn't stop.

United, as has often been the case recently, went behind at half-time despite having a clear advantage in possession (59%). Still, NMU only had two shots in the first 45 minutes, only one of which was on goal.

“Statistics like this can be misleading,” Quill said. “We didn’t reach the moment when it was necessary.”

United had a golden chance to equalize early in the second half, centering a ball to Nicky Hernandez who gave him a clear look near the top of the box. But Hernandez's soft shot landed straight into the arms of goalkeeper Tyler Deric, who made numerous stops but wasn't tested often.

Memphis almost denied the win in the 64th minute when defender Lucas Turci fired a low shot from about 30 yards into the right corner of the goal, making it 3-1. It was Turci's third goal of the season, two of which came against United.