UNLV women’s soccer falls to BYU in NCAA Tournament

PROVO, Utah — The UNLV women’s soccer team was coming off an emotional victory against San Diego State last week that required penalty kicks to decide the Mountain West tournament champion.

UNLV didn’t have enough time to recover from such a high.

The Rebels, who scored 51 goals during the regular season, couldn’t find any rhythm during their 2-0 loss to fourth-ranked Brigham Young in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night before an announced crowd of 3,276 at South Field Stadium.

“We’re new to the NCAA stage, and it showed,” UNLV coach Chris Shaw said. “Maybe we were a little nervous, but we couldn’t get anything going. I was a little disappointed with the end result but super proud of the heart this team showed.”

The Rebels went from clinching their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 10 years to facing the No. 4 team in the country that always draws a large crowd and features a potential All-American on the pitch.

“We tried not to get caught on the talent they had,” junior goalkeeper Jordan Sallee said. “We just couldn’t get anything going.”

Ashley Hatch, who probably will earn many accolades for the Cougars after the season ends, set the tone early for BYU. The senior forward had a beautiful assist to set up teammate Michele Vasconcelos in the 19th minute for a 1-0 advantage.

Hatch and Vasconcelos have combined for 33 goals and 18 assists this season.

Elena Medeiros opened the second half with a sliding goal to put BYU (17-2-1) ahead 2-0 in the 47th minute.

UNLV’s dynamic duo of Dakota Blazak and Lily Sender were held in check most of the match. Sender, the Mountain West offensive player of the year, recorded one of only two shots on goals for the Rebels. UNLV (16-4-3) took seven shots compared with BYU’s 18.

“It’s been an honor to play for this team,” UNLV senior defender Jordan Magnin said. “To have an opportunity to play on this grand stage against a team like BYU that always gets a great turnout is definitely an honor to be part of this.”

UNLV fell to 0-4 in NCAA Tournament matches. The Rebels lost three straight first-round matches from 2004 to 2006.

Shaw, in his third year leading the Rebels, doesn’t want to wait another decade to return to the NCAAs.

“These seniors have set the bar high and changed the cultures of this program,” Shaw said. “It’s up to the returning players to keep those standards high. I have every right to believe we’ll continue to build on this.”

BYU will play Oklahoma in the second round, while UNLV will say goodbye to the 11 seniors on its roster.

Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0492. Follow @gmanzano24 on Twitter.