Ag soccer hoping loss helps get win

Sometimes it takes a loss to learn how to win.

USU soccer Head Coach Heather Cairns said she hopes her team learned their lesson after receiving a 3-1 beating at the hands of Texas Christian University, a team Cairns said the Aggies could have beat last Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas.

This weekend USU will travel south to Arizona to compete in the La Quinta Inn and Suites High Altitude Classic, a tournament hosted by Northern Arizona University. The Aggies will first take on UC Irvine Friday at 5 p.m., followed by a Sunday match against NAU at 3 p.m.

“Both (UC Irvine and NAU) are going to be a lot like TCU, so it’s going to be a good test to see if we learned something against TCU,” Cairns said.

In the TCU match, the Aggies took an early lead off a goal by senior forward Dana Peart. Five minutes later, the Horned Frogs capitalized off a penalty kick to tie the game. TCU would go on to score two more times as they penetrated the Aggie defense and took advantage of confusion in the attack.

“We had some letdowns in our systems,” Cairns said of the TCU loss. “It wasn’t a particular player. We weren’t doing things we were supposed to do.”

In preparing for the tournament this weekend, Cairns said her team has worked on improving the attack and sharpening the defense.

“We don’t want to focus on defense so much,” she said. “We want to focus on the attack. If we can play in an attacking style, we’ll have to defend less, so that’s kind of our game plan, to be the aggressor, to set the tone of the game, instead of letting the game come to us and defend a lot.”

UC Irvine is a familiar opponent as the Aggies squared off against them while in the Big West Conference. USU’s track record against the Anteaters is not so hot, as the Ags have gone 1-7-1, losing seven straight matches from 1996-2002.

This year the Anteaters return seven starters but were picked to finish ninth in the Big West coach’s poll.

Thus far in the season, UC Irvine has a 1-1 record, dropping a 3-0 match to Western Athletic Conference competitor Fresno State and beating Cal State Bakersfield 3-0, Sunday.

“I think California schools tend to be very technical,” Cairns said of her expectations of UC Irvine. “They tend to be big and strong, so I would expect that.”

On Sunday the Aggies will face the NAU Lumberjacks, their fourth game of five on the road. NAU comes off a 7-0 massacre over Lamar, tying a 1997 school record. Six of the seven goals were scored in the first half, setting a new school record.

The Lumberjacks were picked to finish third in the Big Sky Conference.

“They’re a good Big Sky team,” Cairns said. “They’ll probably be pretty direct, pretty big and physical. We need to play our game, possess the ball and spread the field. The key is going to be sticking to our game plan.”

USU will be led in the 4-3-3 attack by Peart, who is tied for first in the WAC for goals scored and goals scored per game. Another asset for the Ags will be the return of junior forward Candice Clark, who is coming off a knee injury. Clark played in 16 of the Aggies’ 20 games last season, contributing two goals, both of which were game winners.

Sophomore forward Erin Salmon, who scored three goals last season, is still recovering from a knee injury. Cairns said she hopes Salmon will be ready to play soon.

Cairns said she feels her team is coming together and learning how to play together.

“The true test is going to be, do we put the ball in the back of the net this weekend?” Cairns said. “This team thrives on new challenges, and it wasn’t a good things we lost. You never like to lose, but they thrive from the challenge of being better than we were when we lost. So that’s really what I’m most excited about, to see the learning that takes place, and can we eliminate the mistakes that we had?

“We’re still in that flux time of the year. We’re still trying to feel ourselves out and find our team identity,” she said.

-seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu