Sept. 7, 2001

San Diego 1, New Mexico 0

LAS VEGAS - Sophomore midfielder Alex Hernandez scored a pair of second half goals in a 3-1 rout of Vanderbilt Friday night to give the UNLV men's soccer team its best season start since 1985 with a current 3-0 mark.

Both the Rebels and Commodores knotted the game at one apiece in the first half, behind scores from Vanderbilt's Nik DeMello at the 8:18 minute mark and UNLV's Jason Melendez at 23:51.

Looking to gain the edge, Melendez found an open Hernandez in front of the net in the 72nd minute to take the one-point lead. An insurance goal by Hernandez at 80:59 locked the game for good. This is the second consecutive year the Rebels have won their home opener.

UNLV outshot Vandy 17-8 with junior goalie Justin Dennis collecting four saves for the Rebels, while Brad Winter had nine for the Commodores.

The Rebels continue tournament competition on Sunday, Sept. 9, when they face preseason No. 9 nationally-ranked San Diego (2-0) at noon, followed by Vanderbilt (1-2) and New Mexico (1-1) at 2 p.m. All games played at Peter Johann Memorial Field.

Vanderbilt  1   0   -   1UNLV        1   2   -   3
SCORING SUMMARYVanderbilt - Nik DeMello (Seth Gardiner), 8:18.UNLV - Jason Melendez (Tyler Turchi), 23:51.UNLV - Alex Hernandez (Jason Melendez), 71:31.UNLV - Alex Hernandez (unassisted), 80:59.
SHOTS ON GOALVU (5), UNLV (11)
CORNER KICKSVU (3), UNLV (7)
GOALKEEPER SAVESVanderbilt (9) - Brad WinterUNLV (4) - Justin Dennis