Early rising UNLV women charge into NCAA soccer playoffs

After 110 minutes of intense and mentally grueling competition, a soccer ball was placed on a spot in front of Jordan Sallee, a UNLV junior from Tacoma, Washington.

Long and tall, Sallee dived to the bottom right corner of the goal she was keeping and made a save during sudden death penalty kicks, thwarting a San Diego State player who had scored all three of her team’s goals in the Mountain West championship game.

That was absolutely huge after the refs kept awarding the Aztecs penalties and free kicks from striking distance during critical moments, such as the 89th minute.

There were major contributions from conference tournament Most Valuable Player Dakota Blazak, a senior who attended four high schools, including two in Las Vegas (Arbor View and Academy for Individualized Study); and Susie Bernal, a senior who played at Clark High; and there was a nucleus of local kids, 12 in all, who — like their male counterparts in 2014 — showed it’s possible for UNLV to win by integrating locals with out-of-state recruits.

And there is Chris Shaw, the third-year coach who has turned around programs at smaller schools and has built on modest success attained by his UNLV predecessors with more dramatic success.

These are factors explaining why the Rebels’ women will play fourth-ranked Brigham Young in a first-round NCAA Tournament game at 6 p.m. Friday in Provo, Utah, marking the Rebels’ fourth appearance in the big bracket but their first in 10 seasons.

And do not underestimate the power of The Dew.

Morning dew still was heavy on the pitch when the Rebels began training at Peter Johann Memorial Stadium on Tuesday — Shaw said there almost always is dew on the pitch when UNLV trains. One must rise early to run with the Rebels’ women, and to cross kicks into the 18-yard box, and to do other soccer stuff.

“We always train at 7 (a.m.) — at this time of the year we could go later, but in August and September when it’s pretty warm, it’s nice to get done before the heat of the day,” Shaw said about early birds getting worms, or at least regular-season and conference tournament titles in the same season, the first time UNLV has done it.

“The dew is not ideal for training, but you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

Shaw can talk all he wants about rising early being about class schedules and meteorology. But waking up with the doughnut makers also requires discipline and dedication.

Now the disciplined and dedicated Rebels are headed for the NCAAs. That should only help Shaw bring in additional top-notch recruits, and help him keep even more local talent at home.

“We’ve got a lot of talent here in the valley, and we want those kids to want to play for UNLV,” said Shaw, whose Rebels will put a 16-3-3 record against BYU’s 16-2-1 in a bracket that includes No. 2-ranked South Carolina. “It makes our job easier when we can recruit the local kids and don’t have to travel hours to see them play. It gets more people at the games. There’s more of an excitement about the program when you have local kids.”

A lot of the homegrown talent, such as Bernal, whose brother Sal was a star for the UNLV men’s team and is trying to catch on with his second MLS club, already was in place when Shaw arrived from Division II Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina.

“It’s my last year, so the fact I get to go to the NCAAs is really exciting,” said the speedy Bernal, UNLV’s single-season and all-time assist leader who also scored in the Mountain West tournament final.

She said it’s neat to share the experience with friends and friendly rivals from her soccer-playing youth.

“Some of the girls were younger than me, so they were on some of my younger (club) teams. It was awesome when they came onto the team. We had a connection, and it has been a great experience.”

BYU and UNLV also have a connection, forged from when both played in the Mountain West. The Cougars almost always won — BYU has a 15-1-1 edge in the series and won 2-0 in 2015, the last time the teams played.

It’ll be a tall assignment to knock off the Cougars on their home pitch. But the Rebels appeared relaxed as drills were run in early morning sunlight, and soccer balls with swirls were kicked into the back of Jordan Sallee’s net.

Toward the end of training, one missed and went flying over the bar, coming to rest at the feet of a reporter and a photographer.

This ball had pace, and what appeared to be the last vestige of morning dew.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.