USU women’s soccer splits weekend games

Ashley Dommer

Coming off a tie last Monday with Weber State, the Utah State University women’s soccer team faced Idaho State on Friday and Wyoming on Sunday.

On Sunday, the Aggies hosted the Wyoming Cowgirls at Tower Field. Although the Aggies dominated most of the game, they came up short, falling 2-0.

The first goal for Wyoming came three minutes into the second half by senior Abby Mouch. The Cowgirls’ next goal came only six minutes later and was posted by junior Kelly McKay.

“In that 10 minutes they got two goals and we look like the lesser team out there, and that’s not the case,” said head coach Jen Kennedy Croft.

Despite many goal attempts and corner kicks, the Aggies failed to post any goals throughout the game. Both Amber Tracy and Claire Schend had goal attempts hit the post in the second half.

“It is frustrating to hit the post, and their keeper made some phenomenal saves in the first half,” Croft said. “I think our maturity level has to be better. I think their first goal went in and we just freaked out. I liked the fact that even in the last 10 minutes everyone was pushing, and nobody ever gave up. Even the subs coming in wanted to score, it was a team effort on that.”

The Aggies played a hard fought game on Friday against the undefeated Idaho State Bengals.

USU handed Idaho their first loss of the season defeating them with a score of 4-1.

Scoring first for the Aggies was junior Brigid Turner, posting a goal only six minutes into the game. The next score for USU came from sophomore Amber Tracy, 11 minutes into the first half, and was assisted by freshman Heather Arnell.

“I was just in the right place at the right time I guess,” Tracy said. “Heather passed and the ball just bounced off my face, and into the net.”

Tracy’s next goal came only two minutes later. Goalkeeper Tracy Brady allowed no goals in the first half. Freshman Megan Mills came in for the second half, allowing only one goal, posted by ISU freshman Stacey Peterson.

USU junior Michelle Eversman posted the final goal of the game on a breakaway with only 55 seconds left. Croft said she would liked to have seen a shutout, but is very pleased with the win.

“If we would have had a shutout, it would have been even more of an ego boost. We scored four and they scored three. To score four goals is huge, so anytime we’re hitting the back of the net that many times, we’re feeling confident.”

With her two new goals, Amber Tracy is now back on top for the most goals with four. The Aggies’ season record is now 2-3-1.

The Aggies will travel to Las Vegas, Nev. to face Northern Arizona on Friday.