Campos' ninth goal gives United win over San Antonio

When United FC forward Pablo Campos scored the lone goal in Saturday's 1-0 victory over San Antonio, he turned toward the crowd and simulated rocking a baby.

The celebration was a long-distance dedication to his sister in Seattle, who gave birth to a baby girl Friday and made Campos an uncle for the first time.

"My dad and mom asked me to score a goal today," said Campos, who leads Minnesota with nine goals. "That celebration was to welcome her into the world."

Campos and his teammates welcomed their first victory at Blaine's National Sports Center in five matches this season. An announced crowd of 2,028 witnessed United's first shutout since April, the same month Minnesota last won two consecutive North American Soccer League games. Minnesota (4-3-2) came into Saturday tied for third in the league standings.

"I don't think today was our best performance but I did think it was a gritty, important performance that our fans haven't seen yet," United coach Manny Lagos said. "We've played some outstanding soccer at home and tied. Today we played some average soccer, but we adjusted in the second half and we made sure we got the win."

Lagos was critical of his team's first half play, using the word "chunky" to describe a lack of flow against last-place San Antonio (1-7-1). Two of United's best plays were defensive efforts by Connor Tobin and goalkeeper Matt VanOekel, who knocked down a close-range blast from NASL leading goal scorer Hans Denissen.

Minnesota broke through in the 61st minute as Simone Bracalello's corner kick found Campos. On previous set pieces, Campos positioned himself at the far post and watched as Bracalello aimed for the near post. Making the proper adjustment, a lunging Campos deflected the ball into the goal with his foot.

"It doesn't matter if you play well for 89 minutes," Campos said. "If you let them score, you just threw everything away."

The same goes for the fall season, Campos said. Minnesota must win the title to qualify for the Soccer Bowl championship game against spring season champion Atlanta. Saturday was the first of four home games, a league high, down the stretch that United plans to take advantage of.

"Today we showed just a flash of what we can do," Campos said. "We need to continue to work as a team because there's no way we should work the whole season and just throw it away."