Nevada held its Fan Appreciation Day on Saturday afternoon in front of nearly 600 fans at Mackay Stadium. The controlled scrimmage – highlighted by a pair of touchdown receptions from junior Hasaan Henderson – was the Pack’s first public practice since the spring game.
“I appreciate all the fans that came out today,” said coach Brian Polian, entering his third season at the helm. “We always look forward to the opportunity to hang out with some dedicated fans after the scrimmage. It’s a good change of scenery for our guys to be back at Mackay with fans out there – it amps things up a bit.”
Fan Appreciation Day opened with the Wolf Pack going through its routine practice drills. The latter half of practice consisted of a controlled scrimmage, with both sides of the ball coming up with its share of moments.
Both junior Tyler Stewart and redshirt-freshman Hunter Fralick – who each traded time with the No. 1 string offense – completed seven passes and threw for one touchdown.
Fralick, a Spanish Springs grad, scored the scrimmage’s first touchdown with a 21-yard pass to Henderson on a fade route. Henderson later caught a 12-yard pass from Stewart in the end zone on a post route.
Stewart and Fralick are thought to be the two quarterbacks left in the running to replace Cody Fajardo, but Polian said after the scrimmage that he isn’t any closer to naming a starter.
Redshirt-freshman Blake Wright led the rushing attack with 49 yards on nine carries and one touchdown – an eight-yard rush up the middle. Senior Don Jackson added 24 yards and sophomore James Butler ran for 10 yards. Brent Zuzo connected on both of his field goal attempts in the scrimmage, splitting the uprights from 29 and 41 yards.
Freshman linebacker Gabe Sewell led the Wolf Pack in tackles with 7.5. Senior defensive end Ian Seau tallied 2.5 tackles and a sack in the end zone for a safety. Junior defensive end Nolan Dambacher also posted 3.5 tackles and a pair of sacks.
Nevada is now just 16 days away from its season opener against UC Davis on Thursday, Sept. 3. Kick off between the Wolf Pack and Aggies is set for 7 p.m. at Mackay Stadium.
Women’s soccer grabs exhibition victory
Getting a taste of competition back in its repertoire, the Nevada soccer team defeated Pacific, 1-0, Saturday evening in exhibition play.
Senior Daisha Jones-Oglesby’s goal shortly into the start of the second half proved to be the difference maker in the contest. The senior forward intercepted a pass from sophomore Morgan Beye and struck the ball to the back of the net from 25 yards out at 53:06.
Pacific put most of its pressure on the Wolf Pack in the opening half, collecting five shots. The Tigers forced Nevada starting goalkeeper Kelsey Quintos to make three saves on those five first half shot attempts. Overall, the Pack outshot the Tigers by a 13-8 margin, pouring on nine shots in the second half of play. Of those 13 shots, seven were on net.
Quintos played all 90 minutes in goal and made four saves. Being an exhibition, 19 total players saw time on the pitch for the Wolf Pack. Redshirt sophomore Kara Kopolow was dangerous around the net all game long, leading the team with five shots and four shots on goal in her 59 minutes of action.
Nevada opens the regular season next Friday at 5 p.m. with a home match against Gonzaga that will be played on the grass surface at Moana Field.
Softball prospect camp scheduled
Softball head coach Matt Meuchel has announced dates for the team’s annual prospect camp. This year’s camp will take place on Sept. 19-20 at Hixson Park.
This softball education conducted by the Wolf Pack coaching staff is intended for high school and community college age players. The camp will offer a pro-style combine, evaluation games, instruction and a campus tour. Campers will get a feel for what the Division I softball experience is like by using facilities at Christina M. Hixson Field and interacting with staff as well as current and former players.
“Our prospect camp has become an integral part of our recruiting process,” Meuchel said. “We designed our prospect camp as an opportunity for us to evaluate quality prospective student-athletes and we’ve identified players from whom we eventually received verbal commitments to play at Nevada.”
The individual camper registration fee is $200 per player.
For camp content questions, please contact assistant coach Josh Taylor at (775) 682-6957 or Crystal Adams at (775) 682-7554.