Aug. 12, 2009

LAS VEGAS - Senior forward Jamie McCoy scored two goals to lead the UNLV women's soccer team to a 4-0 victory in an exhibition contest against Dixie State on Wednesday night from Peter Johann Memorial Field.

Though UNLV dominated play in the first half, they finished the first 45 minutes locked in a scoreless tie. The Rebels finally put themselves on the scoreboard in the 50th minute when senior Brianna Moore slipped a ball behind the Dixie State defense to find Ashleigh Shoughro. Shoughro collected the ball, beat the goalie and placed the ball on the ground to make it 1-0 in favor of UNLV. In the 59th minute, Moore again started a scoring play when she collected a loose ball and fired a shot, beating the goalie to the far post to give the Rebels a 2-0 lead.

UNLV would find the net again in the 81st minute after good work down the left side from Brittany Flores and Katherine Orellana. Orellana took a pass from Flores and then slid the ball into the middle to find Jamie McCoy, who settled the ball and buried it into the far lower corner for the third score of the game. McCoy would strike again in the 87th minute after Mack Neely won the ball at midfield and found McCoy wide open. She then sent a volley past the keeper to make the score 4-0.

Freshman goalkeeper Ashlee Dela Cruz played the entire 90 minutes in the net, and earned the shutout while making several key saves.

"It was a great starting point," UNLV head coach Kat Mertz said after the victory. "We had a lot of different combinations of players out there tonight and we found the ways to be successful."

UNLV opens its season on Friday, Aug. 21 when it hosts Loyola Marymount at 7:30 pm.