Men’s club soccer shuts out Dixie
The Utah State men’s club soccer team came away with a lot of positives in its game Saturday against Dixie State.
A lot of the players saw time on the field as the Aggies beat Dixie State 7-0.
James Barnard led the pack with three goals in the game, scoring the first goal of the contest and having two in the second half.
USU (5-1) was up 3-0 after the first half of play with Yoshi Wantanobe and Todd Showalter kicking in one goal apiece.
In the second half of the game Dixie State was plagued by fouls having lost one player because he received a red card. The Aggies took advantage of this and went on to dominate the game.
USU had 17 shots on goal during the second half, while Dixie State had four.
As a result, Utah State scored four additional goals. In addition to Barnard’s two, Jake Carlson and Mike Bingham also scored. Bingham’s goal was the last goal of the game.
The Aggies had solid performances from goalies Robert Silvester and Tony Lamarra, who combined each with 10 saves on the shut out.
“The first half was not as organized as the second half,” Barnard said.
USU out-manned Dixie State playing 10 on 11.
Utah State Head Coach Vince Lamarra said, “The team is getting better every game. This year’s team has a lot of depth and is aiming for the national championships in Tuscaloosa, Ala.”
The only loss so far for Utah State came against the returning National Intercollegiate Recreational Sport Association (NIRSA) team Weber State, which is nationally ranked and narrowly escaped from USU in its home game last Saturday.
Utah State is also a member of NIRSA.
The Aggies have seven players returning from last year’s squad which went to the regional conference playoffs.
“Many players this year recently returned from LDS missions, from not playing much soccer, and now [the recently returned missionaries] are learning more, playing together,” Vince Lamarra said. “Last week, the team won 9-0 against Idaho State on Wednesday and 4-1 against BYU-Idaho on Friday.”
The team is healthy and has three home contests left with two this week. The Aggies host Salt Lake Community College on Friday and UVSC on Saturday at 5 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
Utah State will be on the road for most of October, returning for a home game on Halloween against Rocky Mountain College.
-nik@cc.usu.edu