LARAMIE, Wyo. (UNLVRebels.com) – Behind two second-half goals, the UNLV women's soccer team walked away from its Mountain West opener with a 2-1 come-from-behind win over conference preseason favorite Wyoming Thursday night at the Madrid Sports Complex.
With the triumph over the Cowgirls (4-2-3, 0-1), the Rebels (5-2-3, 1-0) improve to 4-0-1 in road contests this season. This marks the Scarlet & Gray's first unbeaten start through the first five contests as a visitor in program history.
UNLV battled back from a first-half, one-goal deficit for the third time in the past four games with goals in the 63rd minute from sophomore
Mallie Ramirez and the eventual game-winner from freshman
Cassie Villanueva in the 81st minute. Ramirez netted her team-leading fifth score this year, while Villanueva put away her respective third overall and second game-winning strikes.
In response to Wyoming's sixth-minute goal, Ramirez netted the equalizer on a rebound off the crossbar following freshman
Trinity Buchanan's shot from outside the 18. Just under 19 minutes later, Villanueva shed a defender to tack on an empty-net goal as the Cowgirls' goalkeeper stepped out of the box in an attempt to sweep the ball away.
Anchoring a stout Rebel backline in the second half, junior goalkeeper
Lucia Guemes made two saves in an unblemished 45 minutes of action to earn her third win.
UP NEXT: The Scarlet & Gray will conclude a five-game road trip with a Sunday tilt at noon against Colorado State.
QUOTABLE: "We're so humbled and grateful to get three points on the road. All around, I'm so proud of each of our players. We're taking (this conference season) one game at a time and are ready to start focusing on our next match."
- UNLV head coach Jenny Ruiz-Williams
NEWS & NOTES:
- The Rebels extended their overall unbeaten streak to six matches, which is their longest such stretch without a loss since 2016.
- Additionally, UNLV has now gone without a loss in its last five games against a Mountain West opponent since the end of the 2022 season.
- Prior to the match, the Scarlet & Gray had program-best unbeaten streaks of four matches to start its road schedule in the 2002 and 2005 seasons.
