Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 11:39 a.m.
One goal away from having her college soccer career come to a bitter end at the hands of pesky Air Force, UNLV senior midfielder Anita Pedford took charge of the game the way she has most of the season.
Left unguarded on the left side of the field, Pedford kicked the game-winning goal from about 35 yards in overtime for a 2-1 victory at Peter Johann Memorial Field Thursday night in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Women's Soccer Championship.
"I'm excited, glad that we pulled it out," Pedford said. "I was kind of worried there.
"I think they knew that I'm hurt and they weren't expecting me to do anything. I caught them by surprise."
The win marks the first time the Rebels have advanced to the conference championship game and bumps UNLV's season victories to 12, the most in school history.
Third-seeded UNLV (12-6-2) will play top-seeded BYU (12-6-1) in the championship game at Peter Johann Memorial Field 5 p.m. on Saturday with the winner earning a berth in the NCAA Championships.
BYU beat Utah 2-0 in Friday's other semifinal.
Pedford injured her right leg the night before against Wyoming and may have fractured her tibia so UNLV coach Dan Abdalla substituted for her liberally.
Without Pedford, the team's leader in goals scored at 11, the Rebels struggled to score against the Falcons, a team that had ousted the Rebels in the conference tournament the last two years.
UNLV's Cristyn Enea, who leads the team in assists and is second in goals scored, put an end to the scoring drought with a penalty kick into the right corner in the 61st minute, giving UNLV a 1-0 advantage.
Air Force tied the game 11 minutes later when Beth Foyer dribbled up the left side for an easy goal.
"It was not a pretty game," Abdalla said. "We knew it was going to be a balls to the wall, go in and grind it out type of game.
"(Air Force is) just a good blue collar team and they played well."
Still, Abdalla liked his team's chances in overtime and with good reason. UNLV is 5-0-2 in overtime this season.
"They have that attitude, that mentality," Abdalla said. "They don't ever quit or give up.
"Doing two-a-days and running sprints, they know that they have worked so hard all season and they have enough reserves to pull it out."
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