Nov. 1, 2002

Box Score

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The UNLV men's soccer team yielded its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation loss falling to conference co-leader San Jose State, 2-1, Friday night at Spartan Stadium.

The Spartans defended their home field advantage with a game-opening goal at 13:05 on a breakaway pass from Kohta Gaines to Tony Chang for the 1-0 lead.

Junior midfielder Alex Hernandez (Indio, Calif.) later scored the game-tying goal on a free kick from the top of the box in the 20th minute. Hernandez recorded his eighth goal of the season to extend his league-leading scoring dominance to 26 points.

In the second half, San Jose State (10-7, 4-0 MPSF) used a game-winning goal from Andiry Budnyy on the feed from Frank Sanfilippo and Chang at 48:25 to remain undefeated in conference play. SJSU and New Mexico (14-2, 4-0 MPSF) are now tied for first-place in the latest conference standings with UNLV following close behind in third.

Senior goalkeeper Justin Dennis (Scottsdale, Ariz.) made five saves on 20 shots taken by the Spartans, while SJSU goalkeeper Eddie Dominguez had one stop on five UNLV shots.

The Rebels (10-6, 3-1 MPSF) will look to rebound on the road against league opponent Sacramento State (4-7-4, 1-2-1 MPSF) on Sunday, Nov. 3 in a conference match scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.