United creates its own March Madness with 3-2 win in Las Vegas

Mar. 16—Maybe March Madness is not entirely exclusive to basketball.

New Mexico United stole a page from the month's collective insanity, beating the buzzer (so to speak) with jaw-dropping goal in the final minute of stoppage time to pull out a 3-2 road win over Las Vegas Lights FC late Saturday night.

Will Seymore was credited with the game-winner, chipping a ball from the line into the top net cords in the 95th minute. But the goal was set up by a well-placed Marlon Vargas corner kick that appeared to deflect off a Las Vegas player and the near post before finding Seymore open in front of the goal.

It amounted to a three-point shot for New Mexico, which squared its record at 1-1-0 heading into next Saturday's home opener against El Paso Locomotive FC. The dramatic tally also rescued the night for United, which conceded a tying goal to Lights FC's Joe Gyau in the 90th minute.

"It's very easy to get down after giving up a late goal like that," NMU coach Dennis Sanchez said in a post-game interview. "For our guys to keep pushing forward and find another opportunity after 90-plus minutes, it's fantastic."

Sanchez was a key figure in Saturday's storylines, having coached Las Vegas Lights to its first postseason appearance last season before signing on with New Mexico. The Lights' run to a USL Championship Western Conference semifinal appearance included a 1-0 win over United at Isotopes Park.

Sanchez spent last week downplaying his return to Las Vegas, but he was as delighted as anyone after Seymore's go-ahead goal. United also got second-half goals from McKinze Gaines and Greg Hurst to help secure its first victory under Sanchez.

"It was not anything (Sanchez) spoke about during the week," Gaines said of Sanchez's return to Las Vegas, "but it's something we know as players is important to him. When players go against a former team we always give that extra 10% and we know Dennis really wanted this one. I'm glad we could get three points for him."

All five of Saturday's goals came in the second half after Las Vegas (1-1-0) employed a five-man back line to frustrate the visitors for the first 45 minutes. United had 66 percent of the possession but went to intermission at 0-0 with each team having just one shot on goal.

Sanchez and his staff made some tactical adjustments in the second half and scoring chances soon began to appear. NMU applied high pressure on the attacking end, and it paid off when the Lights made a pair of defensive mistakes deep in their own end.

The first came in the 53rd minute when Sergio Rivas centered a ball from the left side of the penalty area. The ball found a Lights defender, but his attempted clearing pass was intercepted by Gaines, who easily punched the ball in for his first United goal.

"It felt great. I obviously wanted it," Gaines said. "I wanted it last week, but I'm glad I didn't have to wait too long."

United made it 2-0 in the 69th minute when Vargas and Hurst forced a turnover in the Las Vegas box. Vargas tapped a short pass to Hurst on his left for an easy score, Hurst's second goal of the season.

"Things really played out the way we intended," Sanchez said of his team's approach, "but it got a little chaotic at the end."

After multiple substitutions by both teams, Lights FC went on the attack and ultimately cashed in with a pair of goals, Johnnie Rodriguez redirected a Valentin Noel cross home with a sliding shot in front in the 72nd minute, and Gyau briefly dimmed New Mexico's hopes for a win with a blast from just outside the box in the 90th minute.

But United turned things around with Vargas' corner kick, sending the visitors into celebration mode when the final whistle sounded less than a minute later.

"We came out with the right attitude," Gaines said. "We wanted to be the aggressors, wanted to be the antagonists and I thought we did that. At the end of the day, I feel like we got what we deserved."

United will take on El Paso (0-0-2) at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Isotopes Park.

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United creates its own March Madness with 3-2 win in Las Vegas

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