New women’s soccer program gets off to a flying start at UNLV

Steve Carp

Thursday, Aug. 27, 1998 | 11:21 a.m.

Quick, somebody call the NCAA and have the investigators get over to Peter Johann Field on the double. Because something is amiss with UNLV's women's soccer team.

Instead of playing disjointed, sporadic and confusing soccer which would befit a team that has been training together for all of 11 days and had never played as a team prior to Wednesday, Staci Hendershott's neophyte squad looked like a veteran playoff team in midseason form.

UNLV was so dominating in its 5-0 rout of Dixie College that the 200 or so fans who checked out the program's maiden competition could only hope this was a harbringer of things to come, beginning next Tuesday when the first-ever varsity match takes place at Pepperdine.

Conventional wisdom would indicate no new team should be this good this soon. But how dominating were the Rebels? Consider three goals in a 15-minute span, including Janae Sims scoring on the first-ever shot taken in the history of the program in just the second minute. The midfield, anchored by Joeleen Palmieri, Anita Pedford and Amy Scala, totally dominated. Dixie managed just three shots, all of which were flawlessly handled by goalkeepers Shannon Wilson and Kristin Puhl, who combined for the easy shutout.

And even though Dixie is a junior college, consider that this UNLV team has just five upperclassmen. So the playing field was more level than you think.

"We've been training hard these last two weeks," Hendershott said. "This team has really meshed -- both on and off the field."

Playing a couple of different formations out of a 4-4-2 set, UNLV constantly pressured all over the field, forcing mistakes and counterattacking quickly out of midfield. Some of the play bordered on the brilliant with Pedford and Sims teaming up time and again for great chances.

Pedford, who scored in the fifth minute and set up Sims' two tallies, said there's a togetherness that carries over to the field.

"Everyone likes each other," she said. "Everyone's friends. Janae and I have played together since we were 12, so we know each other."

In addition to Sims' two goals and Pedford's tally, UNLV's other two goals came from Jennifer Wintermute's long, looping shot in the 38th minute and Breanna Seaton's finish from in close in the 70th minute.

Palmieri, one of only two seniors on the team and a transfer from Valparaiso, said the Rebels have a lot of skill. Especially up front.

"There's a lot of talent here," she said. "And we're organized. We've got a great system. The coaches have us prepared to play and everyone's working hard."

Hendershott had little to complain about. The total effort was there from start to finish and the way UNLV worked together and created chances for each other had her smiling often. The only frown on the first-year coach's face came when midfielder Jessica Chavez suffered a concussion in the 25th minute after an attempted header caught her nose and left her woozy and a bit bloodied.

"Winning wasn't the primary purpose tonight," she said. "We've been working on a lot of things in practice and I wanted to see that carry over to a game situation. I thought we did a good job finding each other and I was a little surprised at some of the things we did. We did some things we haven't even worked on yet."

But the players knew what to do. Whether it was filling the open space or knowing when to hold the ball and wait for a teammate to get open or make a strong defensive challenge, the Rebels put on an impressive performance.

"We're trying to improve each day," Hendershott said. "This was an important step and a great performance. But now, we've got to get ready for Pepperdine next Tuesday."