Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003 | 9:54 a.m.
Preseason poll
1. Utah
2. BYU
3. New Mexico
4. UNLV
5. San Diego State
6. Air Force
7. Wyoming
Aug. 29 Drury -- W 2-0
Aug. 31 Utah State -- W 2-0
Sept. 3 So. Utah -- W 5-2
Sept. 5 at San Diego -- L 1-0
Sept.7 Tennessee -- W 5-2
Sept. 12 VCU -- W 4-0
Sept. 14 Auburn -- L 4-0
Sept. 19 at UNR
Sept. 21 Northern Arizona
Sept. 27 Arizona (at Montana)
Sept. 28 at Montana
Oct. 3 UCLA
Oct. 12 at Colorado College
Oct. 10 at Wyoming
Oct. 16 Utah
Oct. 18 BYU
Oct. 24 at New Mexico
Oct. 26 at Air Force
Nov. 1 San Diego State
Nov. 5-8 at MWC tournament
Note: Home games played at Peter Johann Field on campus
Dan Abdalla's team is at a crossroads.
In his four years as the UNLV's womens soccer coach, Abdalla has built the role players needed to put together a competitive program.
"Now, for us to get to the next level, we need to start bringing in one or two of those players who can help be part of the final puzzle and take us to the top, and that's definitely the direction we're headed," said Abdalla.
And Abdalla knows all about recruiting soccer players to UNLV. In 1994, he was a recruit to Barry Barto's men's soccer program, and he knows what sells at UNLV.
"The size of the school, the location, the professors, the size of the classes, those are all things that attracted me, and I'm sharing that with recruits. It makes it kind of fun," he said. "I'm talking to them from my heart from having been there and done that. I think when they see that passion I have for Las Vegas and for UNLV it really makes them feel a lot more comfortable with everything that we have to offer."
Abdalla's biggest contributor has been junior forward Annii Magliulo, the center piece of Abdalla's puzzle. She has scored seven goals in seven games, with two assists and a .640 shots-on-goal percentage. On top of that, she recorded two of the three hat tricks in UNLV history, her latest coming against Virginia Commonwealth last week.
Magliulo is humble about her performance.
"I don't consider myself the star of the team," she said. "I had a pretty good season last year, and we got some new freshmen to help me out, and I expected to do this well so far."
She credits a lot of her skill to her coaches in high school, when she was the MVP in California's Sonoma County League. "I had really good coaches when I was growing up, so it helped prepare me for this. A lot of players come from club teams that aren't that good. I actually came from some pretty good club teams."
Despite Magliulo's standout performance so far, Abdalla still credits his team's collective effort for the Rebels' success this year.
"What's made us successful so far has been everyone on the field," said Abdalla. "We're not a team that traditionally has a star. We're a team that's going to win and lose by how the team goes, not by how an individual goes."
He has high praise for defensive backs Jessica Brown, Kelly Oshay and freshman Tanya Roberts, as well as goalkeeper Jenna Huff.
UNLV was picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West, and has scheduled four perennial top-25 teams on its nonconference schedule this season.
That's why Abdalla and the rest of the Rebels women's soccer team has good reason to hope. After home wins against Drury, Utah State, and Southern Utah to start the season, UNLV lost 1-0 at San Diego and held seventh-ranked Tennessee to a 2-2 tie until late in the game. The Vols scored three goals in the last 17 minutes to put away the Rebels.
"We set our schedule up to be challenging," Abdalla said. "The first three games for us were challenging, and then I think the next two took it up to the next level of challenging. To play San Diego at San Diego, they're traditionally top 25, then to play the No. 7 team in the country, that's tough competition we needed to see. So I think it's a process for us to get acclimated to that type of competition."
UNLV rebounded to beat Virginia Commonwealth 4-0 last Friday, but was shut out by Auburn Sunday, also by a score of 4-0.
The real test of the schedule comes Oct. 3, when third-ranked UCLA comes to Las Vegas. Junior forward Annii Magliulo says that the experience in their losses will help them with the Bruins. "We know we can play against a UCLA," she said. "It's less intimidating so we can come out and play."
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