By James Hernandez 

The term "Rome wasn't built in a day" is widely used to explain the ebbs and flows of turning a program into a contender and the fact that it generally takes a significant amount of time for this process to run its course.

Fortunately for the CSN Men's Soccer program Coach Hawkins and his staff have figured a way to expedite the entire process. In two short seasons Hawkins has established Southern Nevada as one of the premier programs in junior college soccer, claiming an outright conference regular season title in '17 and nailing down a trip to Nationals in the program's inaugural season of existence. If 2018 is going to be a year for record books at Southern Nevada, the team will need to adjust from being the hunter to the hunted.

The first obstacle staring the Coyotes in the face were the Mustangs of Western Wyoming Community College. Both teams began the match cautious, not wanting to give the other any unnecessary scoring opportunities. That approach led to a defensive stalemate after 45 minutes of play that saw the Coyotes outshoot the Mustangs 10-3 in the opening half, but head to the locker knotted up 0-0.

The field opened up for the Coyotes in the second half and in the 66^th minute Juan Arredondo connected on a perfect pass to Felipe Lucero which was converted into the first goal of the 2018 season. Twelve game minutes later the reigning Region XVIII player of the year Manuel Ponce found the back of the Mustang's on a sick unassisted goal, that had the Coyote faithful roaring with approval. CSN's suffocating defense was too much for WWCC, as the Mustangs struggled all evening to even get a quality look at the Coyotes net. Bruno Aleman ended the game in style for Southern Nevada, tallying the third goal of the match with a clutch assist off the foot of Marcos DelAngel-Parra.

CSN shutout WWCC 3-0 in the season opener, improving its regular season home record to an impressive 15-1-2.

Fans your Coyotes will be back on the attack at home Friday August 31^st and Saturday September 1^st. For upcoming opponents, match times and ticketing information log onto www.csncoyotes.com or follow us on Facebook CSNCoyotes and Twitter @CSN_MSoc.