Gabby Medina drilled home his first game-winning goal of the season nearly three minutes into the second overtime period to lift Dixie State’s men’s soccer team to a dramatic 2-1 result over Hawai’i Pacific on Tuesday night at Legend Solar Stadium. With the win, the Trailblazers (7-0-0, 3-0-0 PacWest) extended their regular-season winning streak to 22-straight games, which includes 16-consecutive results in Pacific West Conference play.
After both teams battled through a scoreless 60 minutes of play, the Trailblazers managed to break through late in the 61st minute when Ather Dawood played in a corner kick that was deflected by Angel Estrada to Bryan Baugh, who blasted home his first goal of the year into the left side of the frame to put DSU up, 1-0.
HPU (2-4-1, 0-3-0 PacWest) turned up the offensive pressure during the next 20 minutes as the Sharks had seven shot attempts, two of which were blocked away by the DSU defense, while sophomore keeper Zach Nielson stopped another attempt to keep HPU off the board. Hawai’i Pacific solved the Trailblazer defense with just less than seven minutes to play in regulation when Jordan Coxall crossed a ball from the right wing to an open Mario Garcia Velez, who fired in the equalizer to knot the match at 1-1.
DSU, which was held to just three shots on goal in the match, had a chance at the potential game-winner in the first overtime session when Estrada booted a ball that was corralled by Shark netminder Daniel Arnoll. However, the third shot on goal was the charm in the second OT when Dawood sent in a cross from the right wing to Moises Medina, who one-touched the ball to his older brother Gabby for the game-winner past Arnoll into the left corner of the frame.
The Trailblazers were outshot in the match by a 17-8 count, including 8-3 on goal. Nielson recorded a career-high seven saves en route to his sixth win in goal of the year.
Dixie State concludes its four-match homestand this Saturday, Sept. 30, against PacWest rival California Baptist at 7 p.m.
Steve Johnson is the Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations and Collegiate Licensing at Dixie State University. For more DSU Athletics news, please visit www.dixieathletics.com and follow Dixie State on Twitter at @DixieAthletics.