TIJUANA- Fans at Estadio Caliente whistled. They sang. They screamed for referee Erim Ulloa to blow the final whistle.

The 20, 773 in attendance were eager to make the result a final.

Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles was moments away from another milestone as member of the First Division, Mexico's top flight league.

The whistle blew a few moments later. The Xolos beat Pumas UNAM, one of Mexico's more popular and storied teams, 1-0 Friday night in a Week 3 match up.

All the Xolos needed to clinch the milestone was a first half goal by Pablo César Aguilar. And the win came against Xolos' former coach Joaquin del Olmo, who took over as manager of the Mexico City club earlier this summer.

It was a homecoming of sorts for del Olmo spoiled by the Xolos and thanks in part by Aguilar.

Aguilar sent a right-footed shot past Palacios in the 45th minute. Aguilar took a soft touch pass from Gandolfi near Pumas' right post. The play was one of a handful of scoring chances created by Tijuana in the first half.

Perhaps its clearest and most unorthodox came in the 35th minute when Pumas defender Dario Veron tried to send a header back to Miguel Palacios, his goalkeeper. But Palacios did not expect the ball. Tijuana's Riascos charged on the ball and nearly dribbled around Miguel Palacios to take a shot but not before Veron recovered position and tackled the ball away from Riascos.

The win perhaps couldn't have come at a better time for the Xolos, who are yet to lose at home this season. Tijuana was coming off a 4-0 loss at Leon last week.

The Xolos (2-1, six points) began the match against Pumas (1-1-1, four points) similarly as they did against Leon. They pressured early and dominated possession but couldn't find the net. This time, they remained organized and kept Pumas, a four-time league champion, at bay.

But things appeared to be going wrong for the Xolos when they lost one of its starting attackers to injury.

Forward Alfredo Moreno left the game early in the first half with an apparent knee injury. He limped off the field at the half towards the team tunnel with his arms around the necks of two team trainers with a sack of ice wrapped around his right knee.

Moreno, known as "El Chango" or the Monkey, was one of the Xolos off season acquisitions. He was supposed to fill in the void left by the departure of striker Jose Sand, the Xolos' leading scorer last season.

Moreno was hit from behind while playing a ball inside Pumas' penalty kick area. He fell to the ground. Moreno then tried to continue in the match for a few more minutes. He limped around, realizing he could not continue, he waved at the bench asking to be substituted for by coach Antonio Mohamed.

"He was hit pretty hard," Mohamed said of Moreno. "It's a knee injury and we will have to do an evaluation to see where he is at."

Losing Moreno for an extended period of time could prove costly for the Xolos. But losing the Argentine striker to injury didn't appear to hinder Tijuana's attack Friday night.

The Xolos continued to pressure Pumas in the second half.

Riascos nearly scored in the 55th minute when he sent a shot floating near the right post. Xolos midfielder Joe Corona fed Riascos with a low rolling pass prior to the shot with Corona sifting the ball through three Pumas defenders.

Riascos continued to attack in the 74th minute. This time, he sent a lobbing pass across the penalty area from right to left to find Enriquez open near the left post. Enriquez got his head on the ball sending it towards goal only to have it intercepted by Pumas defender Jose Garcia. Garcia got a piece of the ball with his head, sending past the touchline and out of bounds.

Pumas created a dangerous chance in the 63rd minute when he sent a header zooming inches away from Tijuana's left post.

Del Olmo said he was not satisfied with his team's inability to capitalize on opportunities. The Pumas coach is familiar with the artificial turf but it appeared to take its toll on some of his players as he began to use his three substitutions midway through the second half.

"It's difficult to adapt to this field," del Olmo said. "It doesn't matter if you've seen it before. It can still be something difficult to adjust to."

ivan.orozco@sandiegored.com