by Steven Fernandez
Daily Lobo
The UNM men's soccer team took less than 10 minutes to score the game-winning goal Friday against San Jose State.
Sunday against Sacramento State, it took more than 96 minutes for the Lobos to get on the board, in what was an intense 1-0, overtime
victory.
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Junior Joey Vitagliano scored the lone goal of the match on Sunday, heading in a cross from freshman Stephen Brown to give the Lobos the conference win.
Vitagliano said he was thrilled to be able to put Sunday's game away.
"It was great," he said. "Things weren't clicking for the team. We're playing hard, but we couldn't find the goal. It was just great to be able to pound it home."
With a well-placed cross, it was a team effort on the goal, said Brown, who put Vitagliano in position to score the goal.
"It was just great ball movement," Brown said. "We had it on the right, and they had it to my feet, and I just had a left-footed cross, and it was just perfect onto Joe's head."
The Lobos were at a one-man advantage after Sacramento State's Eliot Ricks-Chambers head-butted UNM defender and midfielder Andrew Boyens in the 80th minute and was given a red card.
Although the Lobos had one more player on the field for the remainder of the game, a win wasn't a given, said UNM head coach Jeremy
Fishbein.
"A one-man advantage isn't always the difference," Fishbein said. "But we kept the course, and it was a good win for us. Our guys showed a lot of character, and it was a great finish to the game."
It was an exciting victory, but the Lobos should have scored more goals earlier in the game,
Fishbein said.
"It was a funny game," he said. "We took it to them for the first 30 minutes of the game. We played great, and you got to finish when you get those opportunities. The longer you let teams hang in games, you give the opponents confidence."
On Friday, the Lobos didn't let San Jose State hang around for
very long.
Sophomore Chris Wright scored the first of his two goals in a 2-0 blanking of the Spartans in the ninth minute of the game.
One goal was all the defense needed, but Wright struck again in the 53rd minute off an assist from Vitagliano to give the Lobos
a cushion.
Wright said he wants to start contributing on a regular basis.
"We played really well on Friday night and on both goals. I was just able to find myself in the right place at the right time," Wright said. "It was really exciting for me because it's been a little while coming. Hopefully, I'll start putting them in the net more frequently."
The UNM defense was stingy once again this weekend, not allowing a goal in either game.
Fishbein said Sunday's victory should give the Lobos the confidence and momentum they need.
"The defense was solid," he said. "It was a good performance. We're just happy to get out of here with
a win."
