By James Hernandez 

After a pair of home victories versus a ranked Badgers team last weekend the College of Southern Nevada found itself back in the national rankings at #19. The Coyotes hoped to maintain that momentum as they welcomed a pair of opponents from the Beehive State for a crucial weekend of Scenic West soccer action.

CSN began Wednesday afternoon in third place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, as they welcomed the Utah State University Eastern Eagles into the "Den" looking to claim the season series after a 1-1 road trip to Price, Utah to open up conference play.

Southern Nevada opened up play a bit sluggish and a game hungry USU Eastern team was happy to take advantage, scoring the matches first two goals and threatening to hand CSN just its second home loss in two and a half seasons.

Luis Olandez returned from injury in style, cutting the Eagles deficit in half 2-1 with a sweet goal in the 57^th minute thanks to a dynamic feed off the boot of Manuel Ponce. With time running out like sand through the hour glass 2017 All-Region XVIII performer Marcos Delangel-Parra electrified the home crowd by netting the equalizer in the 84^th minute, courtesy of another jaw-dropping assist courtesy Manuel Ponce's second helper of the match.

A shell-shocked group of Eagles were able to get the match to overtime, however a costly foul set the Coyotes up with a penalty kick in the 93^rd minute. Reigning Region XVIII player of the year Manuel Ponce once again showed why he is one of the premier strikers in the SWAC, beating the Eastern keeper to help the Coyotes snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. CSN scored three unanswered goals to stun USU-Eastern 3-2, improving to 6-3 in conference play and 9-4-1 overall.

After surviving a scare versus the Eagles on Wednesday, the Coyotes prepared to welcome in the #2 ranked team in NJCAA soccer for what was being called "Showdown Saturday" around the SWAC.

Both teams came out of the locker room with an intensity reminiscent of a postseason match, scratching and clawing to gain any advantage they could.

The Coyotes were able to draw first blood at the 11:54 mark of the opening half thanks to a bullet off the foot of star striker Maliq Cooper that beat the Bruins keeper, with the assists going to Manny Lopez and Manuel Ponce. A stunned group of Bruins were exposed again just eight minutes later when Ramon Urias Medina converted a perfect pass from Bruno Aleman into CSN's second goal of the opening half.

Both sides left everything they had out on the field, however it was #19 Southern Nevada pulling a slight upset over #2 Salt Lake with a 2-0 shutout victory in the team's final home match of the regular season. The victory propelled the Coyotes to 7-3 in conference and 10-4-1 overall as the Pack continues to hunt a Scenic West Athletic Conference regular season crown.

Fans your #15 ranked Coyotes will conclude its 2018 regular season with road matches Friday October 19^th versus Snow College and Saturday October 20^th against Colorado Northwestern.

For match times and live updates all weekend log onto www.csncoyotes.com or follow us on Facebook CSNCoyotes and Twitter @CSN_MSoc.