Oct. 22, 2000

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The UNLV women's soccer team lost its conference finale 4-2 on Sunday at San Diego State in a very intense and physical match. The Rebels fall to 10-7 overall and 3-3 in the Mountain West Conference. The Aztecs' move to 7-11 and 4-2 in the conference.

In a match with important seeding implications the Aztecs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the match. Freshman Kim Castellanos tallied her eighth goal of the season at the 2:30 mark. Midfielder Fay deLeon scored just three minutes later to add to the advantage. The Rebels battled back later in the first half. Freshman Rachael Buscovich helped the Rebels cut into the Aztec lead with a goal at the 19:36 mark to make the score 2-1. Junior Janae Sims connected with her team-leading tenth goal of the season at the 35:06 mark with the assist going to freshman Tania Lee to tie the match at 2-2. After the goal by Sims, the momentum began to swing to UNLV as the Rebels dominated the last 15 minutes of the first half.

San Diego State opened the second half with the game winning goal as Castellanos scored her second goal of the match at 54:33. The match became a lot more physical after that. Both teams had ample opportunities to score but Rebels keeper, senior Shannon Wilson and Aztec keeper Linnea Quiones made some great saves that could have found the net, keeping the score at 3-2 in favor of San Diego State.

Castellanos scored the insurance goal at 81:25 to give the Aztecs a 4-2 lead and her third goal of the match. It was also her second hat trick in as many games.

The Rebels will return home for the UNLV/FILA Tournament on Oct. 27-29. UNLV will face Western Michigan on Friday, October 27 at 7:00 p.m. The early game features UTEP and Denver. Kick-off is at 5:00 p.m. at Johann Field.