USU ties Friday; rebounds Sunday for win
The Aggie women’s soccer team had a wet and wild weekend.
Utah State University (2-1-1) had two home games over the weekend, splashing out the Eastern Washington Eagles 3-0 Sunday and tying the Sacramento State Hornets 1-1 Friday. Each team was from the Big Sky Conference.
Both games were played under a dark gray sky and on an unreliably slippery Bell Field, soaked from the weekend rain storms.
“It was slick but I like playing in the rain,” Aggie forward Brigid Turner said after Friday’s tie.
USU’s 3-0 drubbing of EWU (0-4) was its second shutout of the season.
USU allowed EWU one shot on goal and outshot the Eagles 16-4.
“Our defense was stellar,” Aggie Head Coach Jen Kenedy Croft said. “They didn’t let anything get by them. They bring confidence to the rest of the team.”
The Aggies came right at the Eagles early.
Forward Charlsie Harris scored the first goal of the game with twelve minutes gone by, kicking the ball in from about five feet right off of a corner kick from defender Megan Tanner.
Aggie forwards Lacey Poulton and Kami Kelley had what Croft called “hustle goals” in the game, and said the two have similar styles of play.
“Both goals were all hustle and they powered the ball in,” she said.
With 37 minutes remaining in the game, Eagle goalkeeper Katie Grothkipp was under pressure from Poulton and tried to clear the ball out of the penalty box, but she drilled Poulton in the chest and the momentum of the ball helped it roll all the way to the left side of the goal before going in, giving USU a 2-0 advantage.
Kelley, a transfer from Weber State, scored the final goal of the game for the Aggies as she made a sliding kick past Eagle goalkeeper Kristen Parnell with 10 minutes left in the second half.
The Eagles changed goalkeepers after Poulton’s goal.
Kelley said just beating teams from the Big Sky isn’t enough.
“It is important for us to show that we can not only just beat these teams, but also shut them out,” she said. “We want to have our opponents think we are tough to beat.”
Both Harris and Kelley’s goals were their first as Aggies.
“We were sluggish,” Eagle Head Coach George Hageage said. “When you give up an early goal it’s hard to come back.”
The difference in the double-overtime tie game with the Hornets (0-2-1), Turner said, was a change in the Aggies intensity level late in the second half.
“We let down a little bit in the second half because we thought we had them and didn’t need to try any harder,” she said. “I feel like it was a loss because we outplayed them most of the game.”
Turner scored USU’s only goal with about nine minutes into the second half off an assist from Aggie forward Heather Arnell, putting USU up 1-0. Arnell deflected the ball to Turner off of a corner kick.
For nearly the remainder of the second half it seemed as though the Aggies had the game in their hands. But with 3:32 remaining in the match, Hornet forward Lisa Wrightsman tied the game on a goal Croft said was the result of a breakdown in the Aggie back line.
“Overall our defense had a great game,” she said. “But that (defensive breakdown) happens.”
The Aggies had 13 shots on goal the entire match with Hornet goalkeepr Amy Seely recording 12 saves.
USU goalkeeper Megan Mills recorded six saves.
USU’s only other double-overtime match came last season at Weber State.
The Aggies continue their five-game early season homestand at 4 p.m. Friday against Southern Utah.
samhis@cc.usu.edu
Utah State´s Jessica Ebner battles Sacremento State´s Jessica Needham for possesion of the ball during the first half of play Friday at Bell Field. (Photo by Ryan Talbot )