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Sanford, Sabado lead UA to victory

The University of Arizona women's soccer team (2-1-0) finally earned their first victory over the University of New Mexico (1-3-0) on Sunday after losing twice and tying once in their three previous games.

Under extremely hot conditions the Wildcats defeated the Lobos 3-2 in front of a crowd of 624 at Murphey Stadium.

"Everyone worked really hard today," said junior defender Ann Giallonardo. "We are settling into our style of play."

In a game that featured a plethora of scoring opportunities for both teams, the Lobos were able to strike first.

UNM freshman midfielder Michelle Longmire found the back of the net in just the seventh minute on a rebound from a Lobos free kick.

The Wildcats were not down for long as junior forward Chrissy Sanford scored the equalizer 17 minutes later.

In what was the most beautiful goal of the game; Sanford took a throw-in and proceeded down the left side of the field, beating four Lobos defenders and then blasted a goal in the lower right corner of the net.

UNM quickly came back in the 38th minute with a goal as Lobos sophomore forward Danielle Pecastaing lofted a shot from about ten yards out that UA sophomore goalie Shannon Monti was unable to stop.

With the half winding down, the Wildcats made one last surge and were able to score in the 43rd minute. UA sophomore midfielder Cassady Guinn made an outstanding pass to sophomore midfielder Tiffany Sabado, who was able to score an easy breakaway goal.

The game remained deadlocked until the 74th minute when Sanford scored her second goal by beating two UNM defenders and then goalie Shelly Hammock with a scorching shot to the lower right side of the goal.

"The second half, we came out with a little more of an attitude," Wildcats' head coach Lisa Fraser said. "I thought we played our game, we really did a good job of using our width (of the field)."

Sanford's goal proved to be the game winner, as the defense clamped down and junior goalkeeper Inger Airheart, who played the second half, held UNM scoreless for the rest of the game.