Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

By James Hernandez 

After three consecutive weekends playing in the friendly confines of Southern Nevada, the CSN Men's soccer team headed to Taylorsville, UT for a weekend clash with the Salt Lake Community College Bruins. The Coyotes put its unbeaten mark of 8-0-1 on the line versus the Bruins, looking to continue to build upon an impressive 3-0 start to Scenic West Athletic Conference play.

Friday's opening match was a defensive battle from the beginning, with both teams executing exceptional defensive strategy and battling to a scoreless tie at the half. SLCC outshot CSN 6-4 in the first 45 minutes of play and dictating the pace of play throughout the match. The Coyotes came out a bit sluggish in to start the second half of play and the Bruins were quick to capitalize.

Luis Vargas broke through first for the home team at the 56:36 mark of the match with an assist from Colton Thomson, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Salt Lake would ride the momentum its first goal to score just seven minutes later at the 63:00 minute mark and take a commanding 2-0 lead,with only 27 minutes remaining in the match.

The Bruin defense was even better in the second half, not allowing a single shot on goal, frustrating a Coyote offense that had averaged just over three goals per contest heading into the match. SLCC handed CSN its first defeat of the 2016 season with a 2-0 victory Friday night.

After suffering its first setback of the season the Coyotes were hoping to rebound and get back to the winner's circle on Saturday afternoon.

The match was extremely physical and chippy throughout, with both teams combining for six yellow cards and three penalty kicks that were responsible for all three goals scored in the match.

CSN's Stefan Skrinjaric capitalized by putting the matches first penalty kick in the net to stake his team to an early 1-0 lead. Unfortunately for the Coyotes the lead was short lived. The Bruins Colton Thomson scored the equalizer less than ten minutes later, on a PK as well up to knot the match up 1-1 heading into halftime. A costly penalty at the 58:45 mark of the match spelled doom for the Coyotes when Tyler Hadley cashed in its second PK of the afternoon, giving Salt Lake a 2-1 advantage that they would not relinquish.

SLCC bested CSN for the second straight match, dropping the Coyotes to 3-2 in SWAC play and 8-2-1 overall.

Your Coyotes return home this weekend for a pair of matches versus the Snow College Badgers on Friday and Saturday afternoon.

For match times and upcoming opponents please visit www.csncoyotes.com or follow us on Twitter @CSNCoyotes.