Resurgent Rebels look to take next big step

Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2002 | 9:32 a.m.

One by one, UNLV players left the Rebel Soccer complex late Tuesday afternoon with dusk coming on quickly, and men's coach Barry Barto noticed none of the departures as he manicured a park by the main building.

With blue-collar intensity, Barto scraped reddish pebbles this way and that with a blunt-nosed shovel. The lush palm trees and the stone picnic-like benches were inviting, but Barto had no time to rest.

It's how he starts his day, too, arriving at 6 a.m. to dig, scrape, polish, plant and plan, and it's how the three fields, main building and long and smooth access road -- all near the intersection of Flamingo Road and Swenson Street -- were built in the first place.

Dawn to dusk, Barto is obsessed with improving all facets of his program.

"He just goes about his job," UNLV assistant coach Frank D'Amelio said. "He is one of the hardest working men I've ever met. If people saw all he does in a day, they'd be stunned."

The Rebels (11-7), who start the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament in Albuquerque against Air Force on Thursday, do not have to search far for an example of how to do something the right way.

"You have to work hard," Barto said, "in order to get the things you want."

Efficiency, diligence and attention to detail are also important, as is class. After Tuesday's practice, Barto instructed his players to report for Wednesday's flight to New Mexico with dark slacks -- no jeans -- and light-colored dress shirts.

A keen eye is also crucial. That's how Barto scouts someone like Alex Hernandez for nary 30 minutes in high school, during a stretch in which Hernandez didn't even score, and knows that Hernandez could help UNLV.

When Barto left that game at Indio High, Hernandez was crushed. Barto missed the player's two second-half goals, and Hernandez thought for sure he would miss out on a college scholarship.

"I was really scared," said Hernandez, a 5-foot-5 junior who leads the Rebels with 27 points, "and bummed."

The next day, Barto rang Hernandez at his home, telling the spitfire midfielder that he's just the guy the Rebels could feature in their attack.

Barto first heard of Hernandez through Indio coach Rich Ryerson, a former Rebel who played for Barto almost 20 years ago. Barto was sold on Hernandez when he served as a translator for his Spanish-speaking parents during Barto's home visit.

Hernandez became the first member of his family to attend college.

Barto has far-reaching tentacles. He plucked Kelly Frederick, a senior striker who plays for the Antigua and Barbuda national team and has a UNLV team-best nine goals, from a junior college in upstate New York.

The departure of Jason Melendez, the top Rebel scorer each of his four years, after last season was barely felt as Hernandez and Frederick clicked from the start in 2002.

"Now, Kelly's the one who's holding the ball, holding defenders away," Hernandez said. "I pretty much run off him. He finishes, so he makes it easy on me.

"He tells me that it's really different here. It's physical, but at the (international) level, it's faster and stronger. Playing on his national team really helped him here. That's why he's so successful in Division I."

Barto called the chemistry between his hot duo "soccer sense," but those two Rebels have accomplices.

Rod Dyachenko and Mark Stock are confident freshmen starters, midfielder Boomer Arbelaez (Bishop Gorman) and defender Chris Henderson (Green Valley) are solid local products and dependable Jon Dunning is Barto's first reserve. Walk-on Matt Harris has earned cult status from his peers.

"He is a pleasure," D'Amelio said of Harris. "Tell him what to do, and he does it. He'd run all day for you."

For Barto, that is. His charges are well aware Barto took teams to the NCAA Tournament in five of his first seven years, but not since then. They are immensely proud that this is the first 11-win UNLV team since 1991.

"I don't think it's pressure," Hernandez said. "Coach has pretty much set a standard for the program, it's just time for us to make it to the NCAAs. Sooner or later, it's going to happen. Guys coming in are solid, and our team will be there."

Barto beamed about going 8-0 at home. "I can't remember another time we did that," he said. The Rebels trounced Air Force, 6-0, three Sundays ago, and they beat 22nd-ranked New Mexico last weekend.

A semifinal match against powerful San Jose State looms Friday, and the MPSF title game -- the champion advances to the 48-team NCAAs -- is scheduled for Sunday.

"I think we're playing as well as anyone in the league. Our chances are as good as anyone's," Barto said. "And I'm working as hard as when I first got here, if not harder."

Then Barto returned to scraping small red stones where he wanted, not one out of place.