Lopes take WAC regular-season title at 7-0

Saturday, April 10

Las Vegas, Nev.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

7-0-0, 7-0-0

UNLV

4-4-2, 4-4-2

Grand Canyon

UNLV

4/10/2021 9:46:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

No. 15 GCU rallies to 2-1 win at UNLV on Andreou, Logan goals

By: Cassidy Mace

LAS VEGAS – The No. 15 Grand Canyon men's soccer team took down UNLV 2-1 on Saturday to become WAC regular season champions. The Lopes (7-0, 7-0 WAC) finished the regular season undefeated by scoring twice in the final 17 minutes against the Rebels (4-4-2, 4-4-2 WAC).

The win at UNLV secures GCU as the No. 1 seed for next week's WAC Tournament in Las Vegas.

With the Lopes trailing 1-0, junior midfielder Marios Andreou put GCU on the board in the 74th minute. Lopes senior midfielder Marco Afonso took a free kick for the Lopes, sending a high ball into the box and hitting the post. Andreou took a shot off the rebound, putting it in the bottom center of the goal to tie the match at 1-1.

The match remained tied when Lopes senior midfielder Tosh Yasuda took control of the ball in the 86th minute, sending a cross into the center of the box. Sophomore midfielder Hugo Logan got the touch, sending a shot into the bottom center of the net for the game-winning goal.

Yasuda took the first shot of the match in under a minute, missing to the right of the goal at 0:51. Freshman forward Maximilian Moeller took the Lopes' second shot just one minute later, also missing to the right.

UNLV took its first shot of the match in the 10th minute, putting the ball on goal for sophomore goalkeeper George Tasouris's first save.

The Lopes' next shot came in the 12th minute, as senior defender Ariel Aguas missed to the left of the goal. GCU got another opportunity at 19:26 with a corner kick. Senior midfielder Justin Rasmussen was able to get a shot on the bottom right of the goal, but it was saved by the Rebels.

Another corner kick came just 30 seconds later, when sophomore defender Esai Easley took a shot for the Lopes and missed over the goal.

Logan took his first shot in the 29th minute, putting the ball on goal in the bottom center to be saved by UNLV. The Lopes had another corner kick in the 34th minute but were unable to take a shot.

Tasouris got his second save in the 38th minute, stopping the ball in the bottom right of the goal.

GCU freshman Georg Bjarnason put a shot on goal in the 39th minute, sending the ball to the bottom right corner to be saved by the Rebels. The first half ended in a scoreless tie.

Afonso got the second half started with a shot in the 48th minute, but it was blocked by the UNLV defense. Rasmussen took another shot for the Lopes one minute later, missing to the right of the goal.

Easley kept the offense going for GCU, taking a shot off a corner kick in the 53rd minute and missing over the goal. Yasuda took shots back-to-back in the 57th and 58th minutes, but both were stopped.

UNLV took the lead with a goal in the 61st minute of the match, but GCU's offense picked up again when Rasmussen retaliated with two shots on goal in the 62nd minute. The Lopes didn't have another shot until Aguas missed over the goal in the 69th minute and Rasmussen put another shot on goal in the 71st minute, setting up the Lopes' two-goal finish.

GCU is set to play its first match of the WAC Tournament on Thursday at 11 a.m. The Lopes will take on the winner of the first-round match between UNLV and Seattle U.