Slow and steady wins the race. It’s a common phrase, passed down from generation to generation, about the race between the tortoise and the hare. And never before has this phrase rung truer than it did Sunday afternoon when the UNLV men’s soccer teamed was crowned Western Athletic Conference champions. UNLV (15-4-2 overall, 7-2-1 WAC) made the trip to Seattle with the majority of its offense in doubt. Rodrigo Fuentes was declared out before the start of the Western Athletic Conference tournament with a broken fifth-metatarsal (pinky toe) in his right foot. Captain Salvador Bernal was ruled out for the first game with a left-knee injury he suffered the week prior against Houston Baptist. With 13 goals between Bernal and Fuentes, the Rebels faced adversity before the tournament had even begun. But hey, what’s a little adversity to this UNLV team? Losing 23 players on scholarship when the teams’ head coach takes another job across the country? That’s adversity. Not knowing if the program would be cut or not from the athletic department due to lack of funding? That’s adversity. Having to raise over two-thirds of your program’s funds in order to keep it afloat and a part of the varsity athletic department? That’s adversity. Not having more than a third of your offense going into the most important tournament for the program in 27 years? That’s easy. On Friday, the Rebels faced UMKC, a team that beat them at home earlier in the season. On a night in which temperatures creeped below freezing, UNLV’s offense was on fire, led by freshman phenom Danny Musovski. The rookie was a nightmare for UMKC’s defense, playing a role in all three of the Rebels goals. After assisting his teammates in the first two goals, Musovski scored himself, receiving a free kick from Jason Khamvongsa and blasting a shot from nine yards away. UNLV goalkeeper Ryan Harding tied Harry Fields (1984) for most single-season shutouts in Rebels’ history (10). The championship game took place on Sunday against Bakersfield, another team who had beaten the Rebels earlier in the season. It was UNLV’s first conference championship game since 1984 as a member of the Big West. The game was like previous Rebels-Roadrunners games: a defensive, hard-fought battle that came down to the wire. Corey Ackley put UNLV on the board after he headed in a cross from Musovski in the 16th-minute. Bakersfield’s Julian Zamora, the WAC Freshman of the Year, tied the game after scoring on a scramble with less than 20-minutes left in the game. After a stalemate in both overtime periods, the two teams went into penalty kicks. For the second straight game, redshirt junior Anthony Perez replaced Nicolas Clever in the shootout for Bakersfield. Kevin Partida opened the shootout with a successful conversion to give UNLV the 1-0 lead in PK’s. Harding stopped the Roadrunners’ first attempt, giving the Rebels some leeway. Both teams scored in round two and three, giving UNLV the 3-2 advantage heading into the fourth round. Senior Sebatian Hernandez converted his attempt, but it was Harding who made the game-winning save when he stopped junior Simon Doherty’s attempt in the lower right side. For Harding, it was not only the biggest save of his career, but arguably the biggest save in program history that sealed UNLV’s fate as champions. The championship is the team’s first in almost 30 years, and the Rebels secured an automatic berth in this year’s NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988. The 2014 UNLV men’s soccer team can be labeled incredible, improbable, unbelievable or magical, but whatever you call them, you must call them champions.
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