Oct. 14, 2004
LAS VEGAS - After splitting a pair of road games to open up their conference schedule, the UNLV Rebels return home to host Wyoming and New Mexico in a pair of key Mountain West games this weekend. UNLV takes on New Mexico on Friday night at 7 pm, followed by a Sunday noon contest against Wyoming. Friday's game is Kids Night, all kids 12 and under receive free admission, and the Rebels will stay afterwards to sign autographs.
Both New Mexico and Wyoming are tied for first in the conference with 1-0-0 records. However, UNLV was the talk of the MWC this past weekend, as the Rebels topped preseason favorite Utah 1-0 on its home field on Oct. 7, just the second home conference loss for the Utes in the last five years. Though that game was followed by a 1-0 loss at BYU on Saturday, UNLV has the advantage of playing three of its last four conference games at home.
At 8-3-2 overall and 1-1 in the league, the Rebels are tied for 10th in this week's NSCAA West region rankings, and 12th in Soccer Buzz's West region rankings. They are led on offense by juniors Nickie Olson and Jessica Brown, both tied for sixth in the conference in points with eight. On defense, junior Jenna Huff leads the lead in saves and shutouts, and is second in goals against average, while helping the team to a rank 30th in the nation in team GAA (0.73) and tied for 22nd in shutout percentage (seven, 0.54 per game).
New Mexico recently broke a five-game losing streak with back-to-back wins over Northern Arizona (1-0) and Air Force (2-1). Before that, the Lobos were going through a scoring slump, with just three goals in five games. Leading the team is Katelyn Ley with three goals and one assist for seven points, while Jordan Johnson also has three goals on the year for six points. Kristen Winters has seen the majority of time in goal this year, and has a 1.40 goals against average with 32 saves and two shutouts.
Wyoming brings a 7-3-4 record into the game, and have already played six double-overtime games. Of their seven wins, only one for the Cowgirls was by more then one goal, a 4-0 win over Northern Arizona. Mari Gomes has been the offense for Wyoming, with seven goals and 16 points she leads the MWC in both categories, while Mercy Adetoye is second in the league in points with 13 (four goals, five assists). Ashley Sheppard has played most of the time in goal, and has a 1.05 GAA with 62 saves and four shutouts.
