Nevada completes weekend sweep
The Nevada soccer team finished out a rivalry-filled weekend by dominating UNLV 3-0 Sunday afternoon at Mackay Stadium.Up to this point, the Wolf Pack was 0-4-1 against the Rebels in the all-time series record.
“There’s a first time for everything,” interim head coach Antoinette Marjanovic said.
Freshman Cristen Drummond and Nevada’s improved offense commanded the game and capitalized on scoring chances to land a result that they had been striving for.
The first half wasn’t so promising, however, as Nevada started the game like it has so many times this year.
Once again, the Wolf Pack outshot its opponent, an ongoing trend, but didn’t have anything to show for it at halftime. In this case, it had eight shots, compared to the Rebels’ five.
Since the beginning of the season, Marjanovic has pointed the team’s focus toward “finishing opportunities.”
Coming into the second half, after being reminded of this goal by Marjanovic in the locker room, Nevada began to take advantage.
Senior Kenishia Warren connected with Drummond deep inside the goal box and Drummond drilled it to the right. UNLV defender LaChere Anglin was there waiting to knock it away, but instead headed it into the Rebels own net.
Marjanovic said she has talked to the team about getting the ball behind the defense when they are in the goal box. When they do, it sets up goals much like this one.
“I was ecstatic,” Drummond said. “It was a good kick from Kenishia that came right to me perfectly.”
Less than 10 minutes later, in the 62nd minute of the game, Warren saw Drummond in front of a Rebels’ defender and connected with her once again, allowing her to nail the ball into the top right corner of the net.
“It was a brilliant play by Kenishia,” Drummond said.
Since the first few games of the season, the offense has made a turn around.
Communication has replaced frustration on the field, and the new forwards have assimilated to the offense.
They are also using their eyes more, looking around the field to see what other teammates are doing, instead of focusing solely on the ball.
The last goal came from Karen Zmirak with 20 minutes left to play in the second half as she fought her way through a clump of UNLV defenders and midfielders to have a wide open shot at the net.
“It was a great team performance in the second half,” Marjanovic said.
Nevada finished the game with 13 shots compared to the Rebels’ 12 shots, and had a 6-4 advantage with shots on goal.
“It always feels good to capitalize and to win games,” Drummond said.
After the win, the team celebrated with gourds of hugs, ear-to-ear smiles and jumping up and down.
“It’s an in-state rivalry so a win will always be huge,” Drummond said. “Because I’m a freshman and this is my first one, it was very exciting. We completely brought home the cannon this weekend.”
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