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No. 1 UNLV Defeats No. 5 Utah, 2-1 UNLV Advances to MWC Tournament Championship
Nov. 8, 2007 PROVO, Utah - 2007 MWC Women's Soccer Championships
The top-seeded UNLV Rebels advanced to the Mountain West Conference Soccer Tournament Championship with a 2-1 win over fifth-seeded Utah on Thursday, Nov. 8. Both Rebel goals were scored by All-MWC second-team selection Jessica Destito. "Coming into this tournament, we talked a lot about defending our regular-season championship," said UNLV head coach Kat Mertz, whose team improved to 11-4-5 overall on the year. "Utah has a lot of dangerous players so we knew anything could happen. But we stayed organized and showed everyone why we are the No. 1 seed." The contest was an early battle reflective of the regular-season meeting between the two teams, which ended in a 2-2 tie after two overtimes. The Utes, who defeated fourth-seeded Wyoming on Wednesday to advance to the tournament semifinals, managed to hold off the attacking UNLV offense and record the first shot of the game in the 11th minute. However, it was the Rebels who struck first on the scoreboard as Destito netted her second goal of the season in the 21st minute. After being served by Katie Carney, Destito broke free with the ball as two Utah defenders collided and tapped it in to give UNLV a 1-0 lead. That score would hold going into the locker room at half as the Rebels continued to dominate with six shots and three corner kicks compared to just two shots for the Utes. Destito kept the pressure on to begin the second half as she sent a shot just over the Utah crossbar in the 49th minute. As the minutes ticked by, the Utes felt a sense of urgency as they became the aggressor and kept the Rebel defense on its heels. However, through the Utes offensive pressure, Destito netted her second goal of the day with a cross that curved over the outstretched hands of Utah's goalkeeper in the 72nd minute. Down 2-0, Utah tried to overcome the deficit with a goal in the 85th minute to cut the lead to 2-1. With a crowd of red and white jerseys bunched in front of the Rebel goal, junior Amanda Sanchez slid the ball past the keeper for her first score of the season. Utah's Chelsea Card came close to tying things up with a hard shot at close range as the clock ticked under two minutes, but UNLV's Alicia Lugo was there to record the save. Despite outshooting the Rebels 10-4 in the second half and 12-10 overall, Utah fell, 2-1. UNLV will face the winner of the No. 2 seed San Diego State and No. 3 seed BYU game. Saturday's Championship game will begin at 1 p.m. MT and will be televised same-day tape-delay on The Mtn. at 5 p.m. MT and tape-delay on CSTV, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. MT. The game will also be streamed live on the Mountain West (www.themwc.com) and CSTV (www.cstv.com) Web sites.
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