Junior
Jandir Porta (West Valley City, Utah/Hunter HS) netted the "golden goal" with 3:51 to play in double overtime to lift Dixie State to a dramatic 3-2 victory over Colorado State-Pueblo Friday night at Trailblazer Stadium.
The Trailblazers (5-8-2/3-6-2 RMAC) led 2-0 at halftime as a pair of freshmen struck for both first-half goals. Dresdan Quackenbush got Dixie State on the board early in the 18
th-minute when he one-touched an
Idris Alabi (Vail, Ariz./Cienega HS) centering feed from inside the 6-yard box for his first collegiate goal.
Daniel Brubaker (Hurricane, Utah/Hurricane HS) then gave DSU the two-goal advantage with just under 10 minutes to play in the stanza when he went top-shelf on an
Ascari Robles (Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Memorial HS) left-wing cross from 10-yards out.
Dixie State kept up the offensive pressure to start the second half as the Blazers rattled off five early attempts, including shots on goal from Brubaker and
Moises Medina (Mesquite, Nev./Virgin Valley HS), but ThunderWolves keeper Tyler Harvey turned away each chance. Porta then had a great look at another DSU insurance goal midway through the 64
th-minute, but his blast caromed off the crossbar and CSU-Pueblo cleared the ball out of the zone.
Those missed chances wound up haunting the Trailblazers as they lost their bid for a shutout midway through the 68
th-minute when Archie Jones headed in CSU-Pueblo's (5-8-2/2-7-2 RMAC) first goal to cut the DSU lead in half. Then with under three minutes to play Dixie State could not keep the ball in the CSU-Pueblo end and the ThunderWolves were able to flip the field position, eventually squaring the match at 2-2 on a Tanner Pile shot from 4-yards out with 1:30 to play in regulation.
Then with four-plus minutes to play in double-OT, Brubaker streaked down the right wing and fed a cross to Medina, who flicked the ball ahead to Porta, and the junior tucked home the game-winner into the left corner of the goal from 15-yards out to end the match.
DSU outshot CSU-Pueblo 18-15, 9-5 on frame, with Quackenbush accounting for five of those attempts (two on goal). Junior keeper
Zach Nielson (West Point, Utah/Northridge HS) (5-6-2) made three saves to earn his fifth win of the year in goal.
Dixie State continues its homestand Sunday afternoon with a match against Adams State beginning at 1 p.m.
Â