By James Hernandez

Southern Nevada returned home following a rare 0-3 road trip hoping to continue its dominance at the "Den" and get itself back into the Scenic West Athletic Conference race with a weekend sweep of the #5 Snow College Badgers Friday and Saturday in Henderson, Nevada.

Friday's match opened up with a fire and intensity, reminiscent of last year's Region XVIII title match which was claimed by the Badgers in one of the most epic matches in SWAC soccer history.

Reigning Region XVIII player of the year Manuel Ponce remembers all too well the feeling of disappointment felt by the entire 2017 CSN team and in the 25^th minute the dynamic striker beat the Badgers keeper for the first goal of the match. Jesus Gonzalez assisted on the Coyotes opening goal of the match and the defense did the rest. A stingy Southern Nevada group limited the Badgers scoring opportunities on the way to a 1-0 CSN lead at halftime.

Ricardo Galvin seized the momentum at the 51:33 mark of the second half, doubling the Coyotes lead with a slick goal assisted by Maliq Cooper and Jaime Munguia.

Snow College cut the CSN lead in half just 90 seconds later, however 2-1 was as close as the Badgers would get in this match.

Southern Nevada controlled the ball and tempo of the match for the final 37 minutes of the match, securing the 2-1 victory and dispatching its first ranked opponent of 2018. The victory improved the Coyotes conference mark to 4-3 and its overall record to 7-4-1 in 2018.

The intensity from Friday's barn-burner carried over to Saturday afternoon as both teams hit the pitch with the intensity resembling a win-or go home match instead of a regular season clash.

Snow College got on the board quickly as Mitchell Pyle found the back of the Coyotes net just 11 minutes into the match, giving the Badgers an early 1-0 edge.

A well-balanced attack was the difference for Southern Nevada in Friday's opener, but to claim Saturday's match the Coyotes would need a star to emerge from the pack, and Maliq Cooper was more than ready to step-up and be that star.

Cooper scored goals at the 17:24 and 39:34 mark of the first half with helpers on both goals off the foot of Jesus Gonzalez to put CSN in front for the first time in the match 2-1.

A costly turnover by the Badgers at the 55 minute mark of the match allowed Maliq Cooper to launch a perfect shot past Snow's keeper and give Southern Nevada its first hat trick of the season.

CSN continued to shut down Snow's attack and eventually defeated the Badgers 3-1 to sweep the weekend series.

With the victory Southern Nevada improved to 20-1-2 all-time at Heritage Park, and more importantly moving into a tie with Snow for 2nd place in the SWAC with just four matches remaining in the regular season.

Fans your Coyotes will be back in action at the "Den" Wednesday October 10^th versus the USU-Eastern Eagles and Saturday October 13^th against the SLCC Bruins.

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