CEDAR CITY, Utah - The SUU soccer team played their first home game of the 2016 regular season Sunday against the Rebels of UNLV. After a stellar team performance in the first half of the match, the Thunderbirds would end up losing the game 2-1, but their first half play was not lost on coach Hogan:

“It was a total Jekyll and Hyde situation. The first half we played the best soccer we have played since I have been coaching here. Our passes were great, our runs were dangerous and we had three really good opportunities to score. Just great, great soccer. And then the second half wasn't as great. Our number of turnovers was too high.”

SUU would strike first in the match when junior midfielder Abbie Flandro put one off the crossbar and past UNLV goalkeeper Jordan Sallee in the 32nd minute off a pass from senior forward Logan Harker.

The Rebels would answer back with one of their own five minutes later when forward Gabriela Vazquez beat goalkeeper Destiny Collins to the left corner of the goal on a pass from fellow forward Brittney Gideon.

Neither team would be able to score again in the first half leaving it 1-1 after 45 minutes of play.

UNLV would strike again less than 10 minutes into the second half when forward Susie Bernal beat goalkeeper Kaitlyn Caldera to her right off a pass from fellow forward Dakota Blazak.

The Thunderbirds would not be able to answer back on any of their four shots in the second half leaving UNLV with the 2-1 advantage.

After the game coach Hogan stayed positive about the way her team played,

“We need to play more like we did in the first half. We have tons and tons of skill. We just sometimes don't have all the people playing their best on the same day. We have so much individual talent that needs to come together at the same time like it did in the first half when we were playing dominantly against a very good UNLV team.”

The team will hit the road once again next weekend to take on Portland and Washington in tournament play in Oregon.