It began with a trickle. It finished with a flood.
UTEP put all the pieces together in an ideal season opener — aggressive offense, smothering defense, good goalkeeping and a shutout win over the rival down the road.
The Miners scored once in the first half, then opened the floodgates in the final 45 minutes to take a 5-0 win over rival New Mexico State on a beautiful Friday night in front of a record crowd of 1,724 fans at UTEP's University Field.
The first half was a tension-filled affair, 45 minutes of tough defense and 45 minutes of near misses.