Oct. 8, 2008
LAS VEGAS -
UNLV women's soccer weekly release
The UNLV women's soccer team will conclude its three-game road with a pair of games in the state of Utah this week. The Rebels will take on preseason favorites BYU on Thursday night at 6 pm, and follow that with a contest at Utah on Saturday night, also at 6 pm.
The conference schedule makers definitely did not do the Rebels any favors this year, as UNLV (9-3-1, 1-0) will play its first three games of the year all on the road, one of two teams in the conference to do so, and all three games are against teams that were in the top four of the 2008 preseason MWC poll. It doesn't get any easier for UNLV, as its fourth road game in league play will be at TCU, which currently holds the top overall record in the conference.
UNLV will also be looking for its first-ever win over BYU (8-5-0, 1-0) on the Cougars' home field. After losing the first 10 games in the series between the two schools, UNLV finally broke that streak with a tie in the 2006 MWC Semifinals (UNLV advanced to the final after winning the PK shootout), and then defeated the 25th-ranked Cougars 1-0 in double-overtime last year in Las Vegas in the regular season finale to give the Rebels the regular season championship. However, BYU returned the favor a week later, as on the Cougars' home field, BYU claimed a 2-1 win in the MWC championship game.
The Cougars are led this year by Katie Larkin with six goals and one assist for 13 points, while Lauren Anderson also has 13 points off three goals and seven assists. McKinzie Olson has seen the majority of time in the net, and has posted a 0.89 GAA with 33 saves in 710 minutes of action.
The Rebels have had better success against the Utes, especially in the past two years, with a 1-1-2 mark, including a tie in the 2006 MWC championship game that was won by UNLV in another PK shootout on Ute Field. Utah took on the most ambitious non-conference schedule of any school this year, and it shows in their record, as the Utes are 4-7-2 (1-0), but have played three ranked teams and also have losses to Arizona, Oregon and Oregon State. The Utes are paced this year by Kelly Isleib with five goals for 10 points. Emalee Rogers is posting a 1.68 GAA with 49 saves in 1,178 minutes of action.
