Bernal siblings share roles, goals on and off pitch

They are the Donny and Marie of the UNLV soccer program. If Jake Gyllenhaal had a good first touch, if Maggie Gyllenhaal was adroit at crossing the ball into the 18-yard box, they'd be like these two.

They have the same last name, the same Tootsie Roll brown eyes, and are driven by the same desires: to compete and to succeed and to win. And to get good grades. They do not, however, wear the same shirt number. One wears 13, the other 14. And they are not the same height.

The media guide says Salvador Bernal, No. 13, stands 5 feet 7 inches. And that Azucena Bernal, his sister, No. 14, stands 5-5. But after watching them pose for photos, I don't think Susie is literally Sal's little sister any longer.

Susie, who was wearing sandals, appeared to be a shade taller than Sal, who was wearing his soccer boots after practice.

No, Sal said, smiling. He still is the taller of the Bernal siblings.

No, said Rich Ryerson, the UNLV men's coach, also smiling. He watched Sal and Susie pose for photos, too. Susie is taller, he said, but that Sal's lack of physical stature gives him incentive, an edge, even, against opponents taller and stronger. That low center of gravity thing. That Napoleon complex thing. That desire to compete and to succeed and to win thing.

When it comes to their roles as Rebels, Sal and Susie Bernal basically are neck and neck.

Sal, a sophomore, is a year older. He started all 17 games at forward for the Rebels last season, scoring six goals with two assists en route to being named Newcomer of the Year in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

Sal picked up an assist on UNLV's season-opening road trip and scored a goal and added another assist in the Rebels' 3-1 victory over Cal State Northridge in their home opener Friday afternoon.

Susie, a forward/midfielder, also has moved into the starting lineup as a freshman and scored the winning goal in UNLV's 2-1 victory over Oklahoma on Aug. 31 - "a fantastic goal, top shelf" as described by UNLV assistant coach Mark Carr. Two days later, she assisted on the game-winner in overtime as the Rebels defeated Florida Atlantic, 2-1.

On Friday, Susie sent a cross from the right baseline into the middle of the box where Jenn Wolfe headed the ball into the net for UNLV's first goal in a 2-0 victory over Sacramento State. The win was the third straight for the UNLV women.

Sal and sister Susie will be back on the pitch at Peter Johann Field today. Sal and the UNLV men will face UC Riverside at 4:30 p.m. after Susie and the UNLV women play Montana at 1.

The Bernal siblings were born in Mexico and began playing soccer at roughly the same time - "around 3 or 4," Sal says, which is when every child born in Mexico starts playing soccer.

They always have played under the same umbrella - first club soccer with Neusport FC, then four years for Clark High School, now UNLV. But Susie says that both playing for UNLV was more happenstance than design: Different coaches recruited them, and the ones who recruited Susie have moved on.

"He came here first," Susie said as she watched Sal run up and down the practice field. "Then I got offered, and our dad was like, both of us here? Why not?"

It's unusual when a brother and sister wind up playing for the same school - when I asked Michael Coll, the first-year Rebels women's coach about that, he said he never has come across it, and Coll spent 15 years at Penn State and is from Ireland, where they play a lot of soccer. (And where they also play a lot of Gaelic football, and hurl.)

It's also saying something when you consider the road that Sal and sister Susie have traveled. Make that roads.

They were born in central Mexico, amid spires and colonial architecture, in historic Morelia. They moved to Oregon for a time. Then back to Mexico. Then to Denver, where all the aunts and uncles and cousins were. Then finally to Las Vegas, where Salvador Bernal Sr. works for U.S. Foodservice and Rosa, the soccer kids' mom, works as a hotel housekeeper.

"You have to work hard, to fight for your spot," Susie says about values learned at home, wherever home turned out to be - values that, in large part, are motivating the siblings to become American citizens.

"That's the dream," Sal says, and when it happens, when he and Susie are standing together at the naturalization ceremony down at the federal or district courthouse, and they take the pledge and the Oath of Allegiance, they will take it proudly.

And they will stand tall.

Only Susie will stand a wee bit taller than Sal, regardless of what it says in the media guide.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.