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April 2, 2019 In General

Rebels to Host Argentina National Team for Spring Exhibition

UNLV will take on Argentina in a special spring exhibition at Peter Johann Field on Saturday, April 6 at 7 p.m.

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV women’s soccer will wrap up its spring season in a big way as the Rebels have the opportunity to face the Argentina National Team at Peter Johann Memorial Field. The special spring exhibition, hosted by the UNLV Rebel Soccer Foundation, will take place at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 6. Tickets will cost $10 and fans can claim a ticket by visiting UNLVTickets.com or by calling 702.739.FANS (3267). 
“Argentina is passionate about its soccer and has produced some of the best players in the world,” said head coach Chris Shaw. “To host their full women’s national team is an unbelievable occasion as they make their final preparations for the upcoming women’s World Cup in France. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of our players to complete against a national team. We are excited about the game and look forward to playing against a team that will be competing on the world stage in a few months.”

Shaw and the Rebels recently concluded four straight weeks of fall games where they played nine games in the span of a month, including matches against BYU, Utah and Arizona State. UNLV’s 2019 fall schedule will be announced in early June.

March 14, 2019 In Announcements, General

Men’s Soccer 3/11/19 Update from the Soccer Yoda

Spring season for American college soccer programs is a unique time. Similar to college
football spring practice, last fall’s seniors are gone and next year’s recruiting class hasn’t arrived yet. So,
without those elements, the spring is a time for improving ball skills, communication and a chance for
last fall’s second teamers to establish themselves as strong candidates for starting positions next varsity
season. But there is an important difference between soccer spring and football spring. Soccer teams
can play outside competition and can play types of opponents they will not see during the fall varsity
season.
The UNLV spring season is just such a time for the Rebels and in playing the professional
Austin (TX.) Bold, they had a match that would not appear on their schedule next October. And, despite
the seeming disparity between a professional side and a college one, the Rebels gave a good account of
themselves.
In the opening minutes, the pros attempted to establish their dominance by playing a high
defensive line and attacking quickly and directly. But the UNLV defense held firm and managed to
counter. Using a midfield of Nikko Classen, Jesus Partida, Timo Mehlich and Marco Gonzalez, they
brought the ball out of their defensive area quickly and effectively. In the twelfth minute a contested
ball in midfield popped past that high Bold line and UNLV forward Bryan Martinez pounced on it and
using an nice cut to his right, he beat Austin’s goalkeeper and scored. The Bold didn’t change their play
and just a couple minutes later Mehlich hit the right post, almost putting the Rebels up two. Austin
settled their offense and playing more of a possession game they exerted more control offensively.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t until the 31st minute of the 35 minute half that they threatened, hitting the UNLV
crossbar. The Rebels managed to clear the danger and went into halftime at 1-0 ahead.
In the second half Austin made an adjustment. They pulled their back line back to a more
moderate position and used the added space to spread the ball more and open the UNLV midfield. This
gave them some openings to use in attacking the Rebel goal. For the most part the UNLV defense was
quick to react and when their midfield did win the ball a quick strike was on. Timo used that advantage
to almost catch the Bold keeper far off his line with a long attempt at 10 minutes of the half.
At the 12 minute mark the Bold broke through and a controversial foul was called just outside
of the Rebel penalty area on the far left side. Austin sent a low ball across the penalty area which found
its way to Bold feet just in front of the goal and the game was tied at 1. As the half wore on, Austin’s
possession began to take a toll although the occasional steal by the Rebels produced some effective
counters, particularity down the UNLV right and the Rebels gained a few corners and a couple near
misses off of them.
At the 26 minutes the Rebels were forced to foul in order to break up a fast Bold attack about 25
yds from goal. At that point Austin launched a world class free kick into the upper left corner of the
goal and they had the lead. In the 31st minute, Classen took the ball from a Bold player and started an
excellent attack which resulted in Marco Gonzalez hitting a perfect low cross in front of goal, but there
was no finish and that proved to be UNLV’s last chance to score.
Given the level of their competition, the Rebels were certainly competitive and while the result
was a 2-1 defeat, remembering the objectives of spring season it must be said that UNLV had an
encouraging experience against the pros.

December 5, 2018 In Announcements, General, Spotlight

Clasen, Gonzalez Named All-Region

Clasen is the first-ever Rebel to earn all-region status as a Freshman.

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – A pair of players from the UNLV Men’s Soccer team, Marco Gonzalez and Nico Classen, earned their first career regional honor as both were selected to the United Soccer Coaches All-Far West Region Third team, the national organization announced Wednesday. This marks the third time in the past four years the Rebels have placed multiple players on the all-region squads.

Gonzalez, a sophomore forward and native of Las Vegas, paced the Rebels this year in both goals (10) and points (23), which ranked him fifth in the WAC in both categories. He notched a pair of multi-goal games this year, including a hat trick against Evansville, and finished the season with three game-winners as well on the way to earning second-team All-WAC honors.

Clasen, a native of Mönchengladbach, Germany, set a new UNLV freshman record and was just one off the school record for total assists in a season with 10 in his first year in the Scarlet & Gray. That also ranked him in a tie for seventh in the nation, and was the second-highest in the WAC as well. This is the second season honor for Clasen after he was also named to the WAC All-Freshman squad. He is also the first-ever Rebel to earn all-region status as a freshman.

UNLV finished the season at 10-10-1, which pushed its streak of 10-win seasons to a school-record five straight.