LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV nearly pulled off a huge upset while going nearly the entire second half shorthanded, but couldn't overcome playing down a man as the Rebels fell to No. 15 Grand Canyon 2-1 Saturday night in WAC men's soccer action from Peter Johann Memorial Field. GCU claimed the conference regular season title with the win, improving to 7-0, while UNLV dropped to 4-4-2. That leaves Rebels as the fourth seed in next week's WAC Tournament, which is being hosted at UNLV, and they will face fifth-seed Seattle Tuesday at 11 am in the first round.

Though GCU held a commanding 7-2 edge on shots in the first half, the game was knotted at 0-0 as Rebel goalkeeper Miguel Duenas Jr. posted three saves in the opening 45 minutes to keep the game scoreless. Just after the start of the second half, the tone of the game changed when UNLV was whistled for a questionable red card, leaving the Rebels with just nine field players for the last 42:28 of the second half. 

Despite playing shorthanded, the night's first game would come from the Rebels thanks to drawing a foul deep in GCU terrority on the right side. Jesus Partida took the free kick, and sent in a hard shot to the right side of the goal. GCU keeper George Tasouris made an initial stop on the ball but didn't collect it in. Skyler Goo rushed in from the box and quickly placed the ball to the back of the next for the score, putting UNLV ahead 1-0 in the 61st minute. That would end up being the only shot of the half for the Rebels.

GCU pushed up its attack, and came up with the tying score in the 74th minute when Duenas attempted to make a play on a hard free kick that hit the right post. It would bounce back out to Marios Andreou who quickly scored to tie the game at 1-1 in the 74th minute. The game was then just minutes from going into overtime when the Antelopes posted the winning score in the 86th minute for a 2-1 advantage, thanks to a score Hugo Logan from the middle of the box.

With its man advantage in the second half, GCU outshot the Rebels 12-1, and 19-3 for the game. Nine of the shots were on goal, with Duenas coming up with a career-high six saves while UNLV also posted a team save. GCU also held an 11-1 edge on corner kicks, while there were a total of 34 fouls called in the contest. 

QUOTEABLE:  "We look at this season as being finished, the regular season is done, now everyone starts from scratch and we'll play Seattle on Tuesday, which will be a fantastic game. I think we are very confident in the way we are playing coming into the tournament. We were disappointed to have the loss tonight and the two goals, the first two we've given up at home this year, but I'm proud of how our team played tonight, we just didn't get the result. We got through the first half 0-0 and then was up 1-0, just couldn't overcome being down a player. Now we concentrate on being rested for Tuesday and coming out ready to play defense against a strong Seattle side."  - UNLV head coach Rich Ryerson.