Aggies send Miners packing, unbeaten at home
As a pregame ritual, a UTEP player buried a pickax into the sidelines of the soccer field, but after 90 minutes of play, it was Utah State that buried the Miners, winning 2-1.
The loss added insult to injury for UTEP (5-2-0), who left the state of Utah with their first two losses of the season after losing to Weber State Friday.
Though the Aggies kept their home field record untarnished this season, the victory wasn’t without some first-half struggles, said USU Head Coach Heather Cairns.
“This game against UTEP was not an easy game for us to win. We had to dig and show a lot of heart,” Cairns said. “This game we actually faced adversity and overcame it.”
Just 11 minutes into the game, UTEP got on the board off a give and go, when Miner midfielder Cara Nordin pounded the ball in from eight yards out.
For the next 15 minutes, UTEP continued with a heavy offensive attack, keeping USU freshman goalkeeper Molli Merrill busy diving for saves in her first college start.
The Aggies got a break in the 28th minute of play, when USU midfielder Chandra Salmon began a counterattack and fed the ball up to sophomore forward Lauren Hansen, who collided with UTEP goalkeeper Chandra Morden. The ball slipped past Morden and Hansen squeezed by for a quick kick at the open net, providing the first goal for the Aggies. It was Hansen’s third goal of the season and Salmon’s first assist.
Not five minutes later, the Aggies got on the board again. Once again, Hansen was involved, but this time in an assisting role as she fed the ball from UTEP’s weak right corner to junior forward Erin Salmon, who pounded the ball into the middle of the net from 14 yards out. The goal was Erin Salmon’s second of the season and marked Hansen’s first career assist.
“The first half wasn’t bad but I think they definitely were taking it to us,” Cairns said. “We were fortunate to score on the two counterattacks.”
Fortune or not, the goals were a result of quality bench production for USU, as Hansen and Salmon were both substituted after UTEP’s goal.
“From the bench, me and Salmon, we were talking like, we hate playing a goal down,” Hansen said. “Once you score, your momentum goes so much – the momentum’s with you. So I think that helped turn around and get the second goal.”
The second half was an entirely different ball game from the first half. No goals were scored and the Aggies took the role as the active aggressor, outplaying and outpossessing the Miners, Cairns said.
Where USU was outshot 7-4 in the first half, they outshot UTEP 11-3 in the second half. Cairns said limiting the Miners’ scoring opportunities and improving midfielder passing in the second half was key to securing the win.
“I think, especially the second half, we did what we needed,” Hansen said. “We possessed right, we held the ball, were able to connect with each other instead of games before.”
With a fairly silent second half for Merrill – only making one save – she earned the first win of her career and finished the game with four saves, though she said UTEP’s goal rattled her for a while.
“After that goal in the first half, it was kind of a damper,” Merrill said. “It took me a while to get back into it, but then in the second half I just decided to come out and not worry about it and just worry about keeping the shutout in the second half.”
Cairns was complimentary of Merrill’s play, and said she didn’t show any nerves and had a presence on the field. She also praised the play of freshman midfielder Allie Maduell and senior forward Kiersten Nilsson, who energized the team in the second half and played with passion.
“Kiersten probably had the best match of her four-year career today,” Cairns said. “She was active in finding the ball, she was good when she got the ball.”
USU @ UTAH
Going into Friday’s rivalry match at Utah, USU had momentum and the Utes were coming off a losing skid, but the Aggies’ momentum wasn’t enough to stop Utah from winning 2-0.
The Utah Utes had their way with the Aggies the entire game, outshooting them 24-9 on the day and providing scoring opportunities for nine players.
“I think they were more hungry than we were,” Cairns said. “They were technically better than we were. We didn’t make it easy on them but we didn’t make it as hard on them as we should have.
“They probably played the best game of their season and we probably played one of our worst so it’s probably a combination of things and none of us were pleased with the way things transpired.”
Cairns said going into the match, her team had to do three things to win:
1. Defend well and limit the Utes’ special players – Kelly Isleib and Lauren Hair.
2. Connect passes and possess the ball.
3. Be potent in the attack.
“We were really going to have to do all three of those in order to win the game and we didn’t,” Cairns said.
The Aggies kept the Utes off the board until the 65th minute of play, when Isleib slipped through the USU defense and drilled in a shot from 18 yards out. Utah tallied their second goal in the 75th minute when Morgan Skeen dribbled into the box and scored from 10 yards out.
While two goals slipped by, Cairns said she was impressed by the play of senior goalkeeper Ali Griffin, who had five saves on the day
“Ali was really good,” Cairns said. “She probably played the best she’s played since two years ago when she had the 10 shutouts.”
With the win, the Utes improved to 2-5-0 on the season and lead the series 10-1.
-seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu