Oct. 1, 2006
The 12th ranked University of New Mexico men’s soccer team evened its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation record today with a 3-1 win at Air Force. The Lobos (6-3-2, 1-1-0 MPSF) outsot Air Force 23-6 and tied their season-high for goals in a game. Junior Joey Vitagliano and freshmen Bryan Sajjadi and P.J. Wilson all scored for New Mexico in the win.
Throughout the 2006 season, the Lobos have generated plenty of offense but have not been able to finish their chances. Again was the case for the first part of today’s match. New Mexico posted 10 shots while blanking Air Force (2-7-1, 1-1-0 MPSF) through the first 44 minutes, yet the score still remained 0-0. It took a spark off the bench to put UNM on the board just before halftime. Sajjadi, who subbed into the game with 12 minutes left in the half, took a feed from sophomore Chris Wright and fired a 12-yard shot past Falcon goalie Brian Guyette. The goal snapped the Air Force keeper’s 278 minute scoreless streak, giving the Lobos a 1-0 at the break.
UNM went up 2-0 in the 66th minute of play when sophomore Brandon Barklage hooked up with Junior Joey Vitagliano on a corner kick. Vitagliano headed his first career goal into the net to extend New Mexico’s lead.
Another theme of the 2006 Lobos has been not being able to put teams away. That appeared to be the situation again when Falcon freshman Josh Rynard cut the lead in half at the 75:32 mark. Rynard buried a shot from eight yards out off a feed from Ian Hauck, marking the first goal by Air Force against UNM since the 2003 season.
This time the Lobos made sure there would be no comeback in the game. UNM keeper Mike Graczyk took a goal kick in the 84th minute that Wright headed across to Wilson. Wilson fired a bullet from 16 yards out that found the far post and resulted in his first goal of the season and the 3-1 final score.
UNM posted a season-high 23 shots – eight on-goal – while the Falcons were able to put just two of their six shots on frame. Each team had six corner kicks and both squads were whistled for off sides three times.
UNM returns home on Friday, Oct. 6 for a MPSF match-up against San Jose State (4-4-1, 1-0-0 MPSF) at 7:00 p.m. (M.D.T.) at the UNM Soccer Complex. The Lobos also face Sacramento State (3-7-0, 0-1-0 MPSF) on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (M.D.T.) at the UNM Soccer Complex.