Pack seals victory in overtime

PORTALES, N.M. (GoThunderWolves.com - Sep. 7, 2012) - Coming into his first year at CSU-Pueblo, Jonny Sawyer (So., Aurora, Colo.) was a highly touted freshmen with an immense amount of talent. That talent was put on display Friday as Sawyer scored the game-winning goal in overtime to help defeat Eastern New Mexico, 1-0.

The goal came nine minutes into the first overtime after an incredible individual effort by Sawyer. Sawyer worked his way past four Zia defenders before calmly tucking the ball away passed the goalkeeper for the game-winner against a highly competitive team.

The win also helped the team get a monkey off their back of some sorts, as it was their first overtime win in two seasons.

Defensively, the Pack was solid once again and their efforts were rewarded with their second consecutive shutout.

"Overall defensively, I commend our teams desire to get back and not give up anything simple," coach Roy Stanley said. "We had tremendous recovery in transition and had numbers behind the ball consistently."

In addition to the overall team defense, the Pack did a great job of containing the Zia's leading goal-scorer, Diego Santos. Santos entered the game with four goals to his name and having scored in the team's first three matches.

Santos would have trouble adding to his total as the Pack's defenders limited his opportunities, holding him only to three shots.

Sam Haseltine (RFr., St. Louis, Mo.) recorded the shutout in net with a huge three save effort. Haseltine came up big in several spots turning away any quality Zia opportunity, including a breakaway that was smothered.

CSU-Pueblo will finish off it's non-conference schedule Sunday at 10 a.m. against a nationally-ranked opponent in No. 16 Midwestern State.