by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
The UNM men's soccer team defense has proven to be one thing this season - stingy.
The Lobos bounced back from a tough 2-0 loss to No. 10 UCLA on Friday night by shutting out Cal State-Northridge, 1-0, on Sunday.
David Gualdarama scored in the 67th minute for UNM, providing all the offense the team would need.
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Goalkeeper Mike Graczyk and the defense recorded the third shutout of the season. Graczyk had five saves in the game.
UNM didn't play a perfect game, and it was impressive the Lobos were able to pull out the victory, said Jeremy Fishbein, UNM head coach.
"It was huge," he said. "It wasn't our best performance over 90 minutes. It's good to get a win when we weren't playing our best. It was a great performance out of Mike Graczyk, and a couple of guys played real well."
Gualdarama put UNM on the board at the 67:14 mark, providing a boost for the Lobos.
Gualdarama said he had to work to get the goal.
"The ball came at me from the left, and I kind of overshot it," he said. "Then it came right at me from the right side, and I was able to flick it in."
Fishbein said Gualdarama's goal was clutch on Sunday.
"He came through and hit a nice goal at the right time," Fishbein said.
The Lobo defense was given a spark with the return of Andrew Boyens who was forced to sit out the UCLA game because of two yellow cards earlier in the season.
While Cal State was able to get its opportunities, Boyens and company worked together to keep them off the board.
Boyens said he was thrilled to be back on the field.
"It was so hard sitting on the sideline for that last game," Boyens said. "You always want to be out there with your boys. Overall, I think we could have done better, but it's good to come out with a win."
One player who had a good all around game was Graczyk. He has been solid throughout the season and made some key saves again Sunday.
Fishbein said the Lobos relied heavily on Graczyk's play.
"Mike had a big-time game," he said. "He won us that game today."
After UNM went up 1-0, the game was far from over. Cal State was still able to attack and get some shots on goal.
However, Graczyk and the defense were able to deflect the shots to preserve the win.
Graczyk said he was just happy to contribute.
"As a goalie, obviously I can't score the goals, so I have to do the best that I can to give my team some momentum," he said. "Being fortunate enough to get some saves gets my team into it, and we rallied behind some players and our coach, and we were able to get the job done today."
The win should go a long way toward keeping the team's confidence high, especially when playing in front of the Lobo fans, Graczyk said.
"It's huge in every sense," he said. "We take a lot of pride when we play at home. We get great crowds out here, and we want to keep them coming."
