Air Force Academy
UNLV
UNLV Downs Air Force, 1-0
10/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 9, 2010
Jonny Espinoza scored the game-winning goal in the 74th minute for UNLV Friday night as the Rebels men's soccer team defeated Air Force 1-0 at Peter Johann Memorial Field. Despite playing down a man for the final 30 minutes, UNLV earned its first conference victory of the season, improving to 4-6 overall and 1-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Falcons dropped to 2-8 and 0-2 in league play.
Both teams had their chances in the first half, with the best coming from UNLV as it looked like Stephen Sifuentes had scored off a header, but it was disallowed due to an offsides call. Things did not look good for the home squad in the second half when Sifuentes was given a red card, leaving UNLV to play with 10 players for the rest of the game. Espinoza scored the game's only goal when Ricky Abrego passed a ball back out to the right side, where Espinoza blasted a shot from 25 yards out past Falcon goalie Patrick Gould, who started the first game of his career.
Rebel goalkeeper Simon Cook posted six saves in goal to come up with his first career shutout, while Gould was credited with two saves. Air Force also had a team save in the first half, with a defender kicking a Nick Marshall ball off the goal line. UNLV held a 12-11 edge on shots for the night, and took seven corner kicks to three for Air Force. AFA junior Ben Chavez attempted a team-high four shots and two shots on goal.
The Falcons return to action on Sunday when they travel to Albuquerque, N.M. to face New Mexico at 1 p.m.
