Sept. 2, 2008

LAS VEGAS - UNLV sophomore forward Daniel Cruz picked up the first weekly honor of his career, as he was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Brine Player of the Week, it was announced on Tuesday.

Cruz, a native of Glendale, Ariz., scored the Rebels' first three goals of the season as he lead them to a 2-0 record in the UNLV Rebel Classic, giving UNLV its best start since 2002. On Friday, Cruz scored both goals in UNLV's 2-0 win over Jacksonville, the 2007 Atlantic Sun regular season champions, and followed that by scoring the first goal in UNLV's 2-1 victory over Radford on Monday. For the weekend, Cruz took a total of five shots, and scored of three of them to give him a team-high six points.

The Rebels will return to action this weekend at the Cal State Fullerton Tournament. The Rebels will meet the host Titans in the first game on Friday at 5 pm, before facing Cal State Northridge on Sunday at 4:30 pm.