Clegg leads USU women to victory
Senior Ally Clegg had an awesome performance Thursday night to lead the Aggies past Nevada 4-0.
Clegg scored two goals and had one assist in the home game that improved USU’s record to 3-2-0.
The loss puts Nevada at 2-2-0 on their season. USU has not lost to Nevada in any of their three meetings. In their first match, USU won 4-0.
“We wanted to execute more,” Clegg said. “We worked together. It was a good team effort.”
The assist increased her career number to eight. She has the most career assists ever at USU.
In addition to putting up big numbers, Clegg is also constant presence on the field. In USU’s last match against Idaho State, Clegg played the entire 90 minutes.
In this match, she only sat out for a few minutes.
“I love to run,” Clegg said.
Clegg has played hard in the last two contests.
Coach Heather Cairns said, “She got rewarded for it. She’s fast. She’s got finesse.”
Also scoring were sophomore Charlsie Harris, off of a pass from Clegg, and junior Nicole Feuz, assisted by senior Amber Tracy. One of Clegg’s goals was assisted by junior Claire Schend.
It was the first goal in a USU uniform for Feuz. She transferred to USU from Boise State this season.
“[It] feels great,” Feuz said. “Amber did most the work, I just put it in.”
The Aggies came into the game strong controlling the ball early on and scoring in the ninth minute.
“We were fired up,” Cairns said. “They definitely were ready.”
Nevada fended off the strong USU attack through the rest of the half, though there were many shots just over the crossbar.
When the second half came, the Aggies couldn’t be stopped. Much of their success in this game can be attributed to the midfield.
“Our midfield was stellar,” Cairns said.
USU registered 22 shots in the game, an improvement from just 13 in their previous contest.
“We improved a lot,” Feuz said. “But we have a lot of improvement to do still. We know we are a good team.”
Feuz’s coach agreed.
“They played to their potential,” Cairns said.
Cairns focused the defensive game plan on keeping the ball away from Nevada scoring leader freshman Kristin Anderson.
Anderson was a no factor in the game due to the staunch Aggie defense.
“I can’t say enough about our defense,” Clegg said. “They’re awesome.”
Some major players on defense were Shaylee (Hogge) Wilson, Elizabeth Masson, Melissa Baggaley, and Ashley Wilson.
Goal keeper Megan Mills recorded her second shutout on the season which increases her numbers to 5.5 on her career.
USU can’t relish the win too long because Gonzaga is coming to town Sunday at noon.
The Gonzaga bulldogs are 1-2-0 on the season. They defeated Portland State 3-1 in their opener.
Junior Annie Hawkins scored all three points in that bulldog win. Hawkins is a Utah native.
Their two losses were shutouts.
One of their losses came from UC Riverside which is a member of the Big West and that USU faces in October.
“They’re good. They’re solid,” Cairns said. “They’re going to be another good test. It comes down to what we do.”
-chrisbarn@cc.usu.edu
USU Forward amber tracy dribbles the ball against Nevada forward Lauren Kinneman. Utah State won the game 4-0. Utah State will face Gonzaga at home on Sunday at noon. (Photo by John Zsiray)