Soccer team advances at MPSF tourney

Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 | 9:55 a.m.

For the second year in a row, the third-seeded UNLV men's soccer team moved on to the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship Tournament after taking a 4-2 shootout over sixth-seeded Air Force Thursday night at the University of New Mexico Soccer Complex.

All of the action happened in the second half, as Air Force's Paul Gagliardi was fouled in the box and awarded a penalty kick in the 56th minute. Teammate Daniel Wasson scored on the PK to give the Falcons (8-9-2) the 1-0 lead.

With less than four minutes remaining in regulation, senior Kelly Frederick was taken down in the box and UNLV was awarded a penalty kick of its own. At 86:48, junior Alex Hernandez netted his first penalty kick of the season for the 1-1 tie.

After a scoreless overtime, UNLV's Frederick, junior Leandro Iocco, sophomore Boomer Arbelaez and Hernandez all were successful with their penalty kicks in the shootout.

Senior goalkeeper Justin Dennis made six saves and stopped two-of-four penalty kicks in the shootout.

UNLV (11-7-1) meets second-seeded San Jose State (10-8) today at 3 p.m. in the semifinals.

The winner plays in Saturday's championship game, with an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

The Puyallup, Wash., native led the Rebels to two top-five finishes last month, including the team title at the Turtle Bay Intercollegiate that featured 11 of the country's top-50 teams according to Golfweek's November 10 rankings.

The Rebel sophomore is ranked 12th nationally in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and first in the MWC with a 70.6 stroke average. Moore has also earned an invitation to play in this year's Western Refining College All- American Golf Classic in El Paso, Texas, Nov. 25-26.

UNLV improved to 10-17 overall, 6-7 in Mountain West Conference play. The Falcons fell to 8-20 and 2-11.

UNLV's Leiana Oswald paced the team offensively for the third straight match. She tallied 17 kills, nine digs and a pair of blocks.

Christina Kirschner dropped eight blocks on the Falcons, one solo and seven assisted. She also added five kills.

Blair Wilkes and Sarah Fachner contributed nine kills and four blocks each. Fachner hit .a team-high .571 on the night.

Nicki King finished with 40 assists and seven digs, while Nina Franchini led all players with 12 digs.

UNLV wraps up its regular season on Saturday with a 6 p.m. match at New Mexico. A win against the Lobos would give the Rebels their best conference record since joining the MWC.

Lauren Miramontes, from Upland, Calif., is a 6-foot-3 middle blocker who attends Upland High School.

She also was recruited by Hawaii, California, Santa Barbara, Pacific and USC.

Michelle Banks, from Sonora, Calif., is a six-foot outside hitter/right side who attends Sonora High School.

She was named the 2002 MVP of the Valley Oak League and also was recruited by Pacific, Hawaii, Long Beach State, Utah and Fresno State.

Endia Oliver is a 6-2 middle blocker from Riverside High School in Milwaukee.

She also was recruited by Arizona State, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Memphis and LSU.

"This is probably the most talented recruiting we've ever signed at UNLV," said Collins.

"These are all physical, athletic girls who will be a big part of the future of volleyball here and we expect them to come in and make an immediate impact on the program. This class shows that we've made a turn in terms of being able to get the top players in the nation to play at UNLV."