Sept. 12, 2007
LAS VEGAS -
UNLV Men's Soccer Notes for UNLV Adidas Invitational
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UNLV, which comes home after their first win of the season at Florida Atlantic, looks to continue its winning ways in the UNLV Adidas Invitational this weekend. The Rebels will welcome in Cal Poly, CS Northridge and Cleveland State to Peter Johann Memorial Field for this weekend's action. Cleveland State and CS Northridge will face-off in the first game on Friday at 4:30 PM, with the Rebels and Cal Poly having the day finale at 7 PM. On Sunday, the Mustangs and Vikings start action at Noon, while the Rebels and Matadors cap the tourney at 2:30 PM.
* 2007 Rebel Men's Soccer Outlook: The UNLV men's soccer team comes into the 2007 season with alot of questions surrounding its program. The good thing is that second-year head coach Mario Sanchez has things headed in the right direction following last year's 1-15-2 season. Returning to the fold for UNLV are all three of their All-MPSF performers from last season. Lamar Neagle, a speedy striker from Federal Way, Wash., was named a first-team All-MPSF player after leading the Rebels with four goals and 11 points. Joining Neagle will be midfielder Nick Paterson. Paterson, a junior from Scotland, emerged as UNLV's playmaker in the middle, dishing out a team-best five assists. Paterson, along with the other all-league performer Mason Trafford, started and played in every Rebel contest a year ago. The Rebels will look for sophomores David Bryan and Calvin Bailey to make substantial strides after extensive action as freshmen. Bryan played in every game, starting all but one in the backfield. Bailey took over as the starting keeper mid-season in 2006, and will be looked upon as the anchor in what should be a much improved defense. Sanchez is also hoping that with another year of experience, the returnees will be able to mentor the 11 newcomers on this years squad. Among those newcomers are Creighton transfer Andrew Friel, a solid backliner, and Daniel Cruz, a highly touted scorer out of Glendale, Ariz.
* Scouting the Cal Poly Mustangs: The Mustangs have jumped out of the gate quickly in 2007, winning both of their games to this point. Cal Poly knocked off Loyola Marymount in their season opener, 2-0, on two goals by reserve Daniel Cumming. After garnering a NSCAA #10 ranking in the Far West Region last week, the Mustangs came out and defeated Wisconsin-Milwakee 1-0 in their home opener. Cumming has scored all three goals for the Mustangs this season, with each strike having been assisted on. Kyle Montgomery, David Zamora and Jose Garcia have eached helped out on a tally, while keeper Eric Brangan-Franco has made seven stops in net for two clean sheets.
* Scouting the Cal State Northridge Matadors: Cal State Northridge is looking to reclaim the Big West title they won in 2005. In fact, the Matadors, under veteran head coach Terry Davila, have won two Big West Conference championships and earned four trips to the NCAA Tournament since 2002. Leading the returnees for CSUN is two-time first team all-Big West honoree Sean Franklin and second team All-Big West selection Sunghyun Kim, the top scorer for the Matadors last season. Cal State Northridge also has the services of a top-flight goalkeeper in junior Kevin Guppy and a solid recruiting class. So far in 2007, CSUN is 1-1-1 after most recently booking a scoreless tie to Memphis. Kim and Camilo Rojas have each scored twice this year, while Devin Deldo is next with a goal and an assist. Guppy has started all three games in goal, posting seven saves and one shutout.
* Follow the Rebels With Gametracker All Season Long: Thanks to the marvel of the internet, fans that cannot make it to every match can still keep track of the Rebels with Gametracker at unlvrebels.com. For all home matches, a link will be created on the Rebels' homepage which will launch the Gametracker program for that day's contest. Make sure to log onto UNLVRebels.com for all the information on UNLV men's soccer.
