Recaps

Offense Gets Back On Track In 3-1 Win At CSUN

UNLV scores three first-half goals to defeat Cal State Northridge Thursday night

NORTHRIDGE, California (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV women’s soccer concluded its three-game road stretch with a dominant 3-1 win over CSUN in Northridge, California, Thursday night. The Rebels used three first-half goals to grab the lead, then held off the Matadors in the second half to get back in the win column after a loss and a draw last weekend in Utah. UNLV moves to 3-1-1 on the season, while CSUN falls to 1-2-1.

The Scarlet and Gray will return home to finish out the weekend, hosting Cal State Bakersfield at Peter Johann Memorial Field on Sunday, September 2 at 1 p.m.

THE TURNING POINT: UNLV took an early 1-0 lead, but the Matadors quickly tied it up in the 14th minute. The Rebels didn’t waste any time responding, with junior midfielder Katie Ballou heading in a corner kick from senior forward Amanda Galbraithin the 18th minute to take the lead right back. Ten minutes later, junior transfer Kim Olivares scored her first career goal as a Rebel on a nifty shot off a pass from junior defender Paige Almendariz, giving the Rebels the two-score lead.

REBEL OF THE GAME: Galbraith showed why she’s so important to the offense as she opened things up just after the five minute mark, finding the back of the net after fellow forward Michaela Morris fed her on the left side of the box. Twelve minutes later, Galbraith sent the textbook corner into the waiting head of Ballou for what proved to be the game-winner.

STAT OF THE GAME: After being limited to one goal in over 200 minutes of action last weekend, the Rebels scored three goals in a span of 24 minutes in the first half.

QUOTABLE: Head coach Chris Shaw:
“I’m very happy with our performance overall tonight. Three goals on the road against a tough and physical Northridge team isn’t easy. I thought the defense battled hard and I was impressed with them tonight.”

REBEL NOTES: 
* UNLV and CSUN finished at an even 13-13 for shots on the night – the Rebels have not been out-shot in five games this year
* The road victory is the first for UNLV since September 24, 2017 – a 1-0 win at San Diego State. Prior to Saturday’s double overtime 1-1 draw at Utah Valley, the Rebels had lost five straight on the road dating back to last season
* UNLV returns home Sunday, where they are 2-0 this year and were 9-1 last season
* Thursday’s match marked the first time since 2010 the two schools had played each other. CSUN won the last matchup 1-0 in Las Vegas on Sept. 12, 2010
* The draw breaks a five-game regular season road losing streak that dates back to the end of last season
* UNLV is celebrating its 20th season in program history, with the official recognition taking place on Friday, Oct. 5 as the Rebels host Fresno State

Hat Trick For Gonzalez In 4-1 Win Over Evansville

UNLV outscores its opponents 7-1 this weekend.

OREM, Utah (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV sophomore forward Marco Gonzalez posted his first career hat trick to lead the Rebels past Evansville 4-1 Sunday morning in college men’s soccer action from Clyde Field on the Utah Valley campus. The Rebels moved to 2-0 on the year with the win, their second straight in the Utah Valley Soccer Invitational.

Gonzalez scored his first two goals exactly one minute apart in the 15th and 16th minute of the game to put the Rebels ahead 2-0 early. The Aces, who were limited to just five total shots in the game, managed to break down the Rebel defense in the 26th minute to close within 2-1. UNLV only allowed one more shot on goal the rest of the way, and posted a pair of goals after halftime for the three-goal victory.

THE TURNING POINT: With the lead at one coming out of the halftime break, the Rebels took control when Nico Clasen stole the ball at midfield and sent up a long pass on the left side to Gonzalez. The Las Vegas native raced into the box past his defender, juked out the Aces goalkeeper and dribbled to the middle of the box before easily scoring on the empty goal, making its a 3-1 Rebel advantage in the 52nd minute.

REBEL OF THE GAME: Gonzalez is already halfway to his freshman year’s goal total after his three-goal performance against Evansville. His first goal came on a chip shot over the goalkeeper from 18 yards out, and he then finished off a great cross into the box from Timo Mehlich for his second score, before adding his third score in the second half.

STAT OF THE GAME: UNLV outshot the Aces 22-5, and held an 8-2 edge on shots on goal.

QUOTABLE: 
“To score seven goals and only concede one, that’s a pretty good weekend. We did good things today in breaking down Evansville’s defense on the outside and in getting behind their backline. Marco (Gonzalez) showed great resilience today, a really great individual performance for him. At the same time we had a very good overall team effort, I thought to come out and play that well on a Sunday ”
– UNLV Head Coach Rich Ryerson

REBEL NOTES: 
* Gonzalez posted an assist on Friday to give him seven total points for the weekend.
* Timo Mehlich closed out the scoring on the 76th minute thanks to a long pass from fellow German native Nico Clasen. It was Mehlich’s second goal of the weekend.
* Clasen picked up his first two assists of the season, coming on the third and fourth Rebel goals.
* Jordan Chavez was credited with the assist on UNLV’s first score, while Mehlich and Tyler Allen assisted on the second goal.
* Three of UNLV’s goals in the game came after a steal at midfield leading to a long pass up the field for the score.
* UNLV outscored its two opponents by a 7-1 margin this weekend, and allowed only three total shots on goal between the two games.

NEXT FOR THE REBELS: UNLV will play a third straight game away from Las Vegas when it faces the Tulsa Hurricanes Friday, Aug. 31 at 6 pm in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa will be coming into the match after claiming a 2-1 win at No. 15 Michigan and a 0-0 overtime tie at No. 4 Michigan State this weekend.

Season-Opening Shutout Win For The Rebels

Rebels Go Unbeaten On Opening Weekend

UNLV scores late goal to down Sacramento State 2-1 Sunday at home

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – On a hotter than normal late-August afternoon, UNLV women’s soccer completed a perfect 2-0 opening weekend at Peter Johann Memorial Field, beating Sacramento State 2-1 in the finale of the UNLV Invitational Sunday. The victory didn’t come easy, however, as the Hornets never quit and tied it at one late in the game before UNLV ultimately pulled it out.

For the second straight year, the Rebels began the season with an unbeaten mark at their home-hosted tournament and will look to go 4-0 to start the season for the third consecutive year as they head out on the road next weekend, taking on Southern Utah Thursday at 3 p.m. PT and Utah Valley Saturday at 6 p.m.

THE TURNING POINT: UNLV took an early lead in the 13th minute thanks to a towering Emberly Sevilla kick finding forward Amanda Galbraith, who took a couple touches and finished in the back of the net for her first goal of the season. It was looking like that would hold up for the victory, but the Hornets never gave up despite the heat and relentless UNLV pressure, tying the game at one with just under 20 minutes to play. The Rebels didn’t let that phase them, as they responded just over a minute later with the game-winning goal. Sophomore midfielder Hannah Harrison dished it to forward Caitlyn Kreutz, who took a turn and slotted it into the back left corner.

REBEL OF THE GAME: Kreutz’s speed put pressure on the Hornet defense all afternoon and her attack finally paid off with the game-winner. It was the senior’s second game-winner of the weekend as her second-half score Friday night gave the Rebels the lead for good in the eventual 5-1 victory over UIC.

STAT OF THE GAME: The Rebels registered more than 20 shots for the second straight game, out-shooting the Hornets 22-7. That included three rocket shots nailing the crossbar – just a few inches here or there and the margin of victory could have been bigger.

QUOTABLE: Head coach Chris Shaw 
On the team’s performance Sunday:
“I’m happy with the result, Sacramento State is a tough team, they compete for everything. They made things really tough for Santa Barbara on Friday and they just never give up. That said, I thought we played well. We did a much better job of controlling possession and even though we didn’t score as many, I felt like we created just as many opportunities as we did on Friday. Overall, a better performance, I think getting the first game out of the way allowed us to settle down, so I was very pleased with the performance today.”

Overall thoughts about opening weekend and heading out onto the road for the first time:
“We always take a lot of pride in trying to win at home and it’s always nice playing in front of the hometown crowd. Going on the road, we will see what the team’s made of because we’ve got to play half our games on the road so you can’t just win at home and expect to be competitive. We’re excited about going on the road and hopefully we can replicate some of what we saw today.”

REBEL NOTES: 
* UNLV is celebrating its 20th season in program history, with the official recognition taking place on Friday, Oct. 5 as the Rebels host Fresno State
* UNLV started 2-0 for the third consecutive year
* UNLV is now 2-0 at home after going 9-1 on their home field in 2017
* Four different player have recorded goals all ready, with Kaila Brinkman, Robin Pollard and Caitlyn Kreutz each netting two on opening weekend.
* UC Santa Barbara was named the official winners of the UNLV Invitational after going 2-0 and scoring nine goals on the weekend, edging out the Rebels who went 2-0 with seven goals
* Tournament honors:
Overall tournament MVP: Jessica Clegg, UCSB
Offensive MVP: Caitlyn Kreutz, UNLV
Defensive MVP: Sophia Dertorossian, UCSB
GK of the Tourney: Emberly Sevilla, UNLV
All Tournament Team:
– Sac. State: Mikayla Reed, Mia Wilson
– UCSB: Jessica Clegg, Sophia Dertorossian, Mal Hromatko, Shea Murison
– UIC – Megan Bowman
– UNLV: Caitlyn Kreutz, Emberly Sevilla, Troi Hollimon, Kaila Brinkman

Rebels Score Five Unanswered In Season-Opening Victory

UNLV wins first game of the season for the eighth straight time

HIGHLIGHTS: All 5️⃣ goals – yes you read that right – FIVE in tonight's 5-1 season-opening victory over UIC at Peter Johann Memorial Field! Big thanks to a great crowd here tonight – come on out on Sunday for our match against Sacramento State at 1 pm! #BEaREBEL pic.twitter.com/P2xgy9fGDj

— UNLV Women's Soccer (@UNLVwSoccer) August 18, 2018

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV women’s soccer started slow, but finished fast in its season opener at the UNLV Invitational Friday night at Peter Johann Memorial Field, beating UIC 5-1 thanks to a barrage of second half goals. The Rebels fell behind early after allowing a goal in the first 10 minutes, but the defense and freshman keeper Emberly Sevilla – making her first collegiate start – settled in and kept the Flames out of the net over the next 80 plus minutes, while the offense exploded for five unanswered to bury UIC.

The victory marks the eight straight year UNLV (1-0) has won its season-opening match, keeping head coach Chris Shaw‘s opening-game record perfect at 5-0. Three different players found the back of the net on the night – seniors Caitlyn Kreutz and Kaila Brinkman and sophomore Robin Pollard – with Pollard and Brinkman each netting two.

THE TURNING POINT: The Rebels didn’t panic when they gave up the early score. After Pollard cleaned up a deflection of an Amanda Galbraith shot to tie it at one in the 32nd minute, Caitlyn Kreutz gave the Rebels the lead for good in the 61st minute, scoring on a second effort after her first shot was blocked by the UIC keeper. UNLV was off and running after that, with Pollard scoring her second of the night in the 73rd minute, followed by a pair of goals by Brinkman just over a minute apart over the final seven minutes.

REBEL OF THE GAME: Hard to not give it to both Pollard and Brinkman, but the slight edge goes to Pollard, who came off the bench to give UNLV a much-needed spark after the team came out flat early in the first half. In addition to the two goals, Pollard assisted on Brinkman’s first score in the 84th minute – this coming after Pollard recorded just one goal all year as a freshman in 2017.

STAT OF THE GAME: Friday’s five goals were the most scored by UNLV in a season-opening match in program history.

QUOTABLE: Head Coach Chris Shaw 
On the team rebounding from a slow start: 
“To be honest, we were a little disappointed with our first half, we felt like we got off to a slow start, but some of that is we don’t play any exhibitions so it really was the first opportunity to play against opposition. That said – I felt like the second half was good, a lot of players came off the bench and came out with a lot of energy. We’ve got some kids that have definitely started to come into their own.”

On Pollard’s performance:
“Robin is someone I’ve coached and known since she was a freshman in high school. She’s always had a great capacity for work, so she’s going to run, she’s going to chase and do anything she can to try to put the ball in the back of the net. The difference for her between last year and this year is her comfort level with the ball, her decision making and just being more tactically aware and that showed tonight.”

REBEL NOTES: 
* UNLV is celebrating its 20th season in program history, with the official recognition taking place on Friday, Oct. 5 as the Rebels host Fresno State
* Dating back to the final game of 2017, the Rebels have scored five goals in two straight contests
* The Rebels dominated on the stat sheet out-shooting the Flames 22-8
* UNLV played 21 different players in the opener
* Sevilla became just the second true freshman in program history to start a season-opener, with the person she replaced – Jordan Sallee – being the only other keeper to share the honor

2018 Spring Games Gallery