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LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The fifth-seeded UNLV women’s soccer team’s season came to a close Sunday night with a 3-1 defeat to fourth-seeded San Diego State in the Mountain West Championship quarterfinals at SDSU SportsDeck.
Despite falling behind 2-0 in the 15th minute, the Rebels (7-11-2) remained poised and cut the deficit to one after freshman Tori Martinez’s 36th-minute goal. It was the closest the Scarlet & Gray would get as the host Aztecs (9-7-4) made it a two-score game once again right after halftime with an insurance goal in the 47th minute.
Martinez registered her first career collegiate score on the night off a cross played to her by sophomore Trinity Buchanan and junior captain Torie Reardon’s flick. Buchanan’s assist pushed her team-best totals to six assists and 18 points, while Reardon had her second assist of the year.
ATTACKING PRESSURE: Notwithstanding the two-score deficit in the second half, UNLV continued to pressure the Aztecs on the attack to the tune of six of its 10 shots for the contest before time ran out on a comeback. Those included a rocket of a shot on goal by junior Cadence Whitley from the top of the 18 in the 80th minute that ricocheted off the SDSU goalkeeper’s hands and required another defender to clear the ball.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Along with Martinez’s and Whitley’s shots on goal, freshman Summer Pyles contributed another as part of four Rebel shots on target. Pyles nearly leveled the match in the first half as the ball landed in front of her inside the box and she launched a threatening shot that forced a save near the left post.
NOTES:
- The match marked UNLV’s first Mountain West Tournament appearance since the 2016 season.
- After their double-assist score, the Rebels finished the season with 22 assists on their 25 goals in the 2024 campaign.
- UNLV outplayed its projected tied-for-seventh finish in Mountain West preseason poll by earning a fifth seed behind a 5-5-1 record in MW play during the regular season.
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