Aggies set new scoring record on Senior Day
Whatever difficulties the USU soccer team had scoring early in the first half seem to be long gone now.
The Aggies scored six goals in the first half and finished the game 10-1 to set a new school record for goals in a match and handed Louisiana Tech it’s worst defeat of the season and second biggest blowout in Lady Techster history, Saturday at the Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field.
“I’m so proud of us,” USU Head Coach Heather Cairns said. “You have to respect your opponent and the best way you can respect your opponent is to take it to them, and I felt we did a very good job with that. If you would have asked me if we would have scored five goals in the first 20 minutes, I would have probably told you you were crazy. But they did such a good job. Those first goals were really good, creative goals. So I’m really proud that we played hard throughout the entire match. It’s just important to really do that.”
Seven USU players scored and eight assists were tallied to set a new record for assists in a match. In all, the Aggies racked up 28 points on the day. With the win, and some help from other games around the conference, USU secured a second-place finish in the regular season for the second straight year.
Going into the game, Cairns said Louisiana Tech was a team that couldn’t be overlooked as the team looks forward to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament less than a week away. Another potential threat to the Aggies would be LTU’s goalkeeper Tara Gavlak, who went into the game leading the WAC in saves for the conference season.
It took less than two minutes to see the Aggies were focused and ready to play the best soccer of the season as junior midfielder Lacey Christenson scored her second goal of the season to put the Aggies up to an early 1-0.
In a game honoring the accomplishments of seniors Dana Peart, Abby Hunt and Shannon Ross, Hunt delivered the second goal for the Aggies in the eighth minute of play with a diving header off an assist from sophomore defender Lindsey Smart. The goal marked the fifth and final goal of the season for Hunt.
“It was awesome,” Hunt said of the goal. “I was telling (the team), I think that’s one of my favorite goals I’ve scored. It was a really good ball from (Smart). I knew if she looked up and saw me she was going to play it and she happened to see me and played a perfect ball. That was a sweet goal.”
While the day may have been dedicated to the seniors, the show was dominated by freshman forward Lauren Hansen, who earned the first hat trick of her career with all three goals occurring within 15 minutes of each other. The goals lifted Hansen to nine on the season to lead the team in goals and points.
Even though Hansen was a dominant force in USU’s victory, she was quick to credit her teammates for contributing to the success.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Hansen said. “Candice and Dana, those balls were just perfect. I could have just stuck my foot out and they would have went in. Just having teammates like that, that’s why I’m there, because of them. There hasn’t been too many goals where I juked five players. It’s like beautiful passes or something. They sure help a lot.”
Hansen’s first goal was the result of a well-placed ball by sophomore defender Sydne Porter to junior forward Candice Clark. After a quick dribble, Clark crossed the ball to Hansen, who pounded the ball into the back of the net.
About 10 minutes later, Hansen scored again on a nearly identical play, this time off a feed from Peart. Hansen’s final goal of the game came off another assist from Clark.
Hansen said she has a chemistry with Clark, which allows them to be a threat on the scoring end of the field.
“I think it showed perfect today,” Hansen said of the chemistry. “Not only the goal, but we just read each other really well, give and goes are just perfect with us. That goal, I think it explained it all. We kind of play the same type of style, and I think that really pays off.”
Before the half rounded out, sophomore forward Erin Salmon, who played more minutes in this match than previous games throughout the season due to an injury, nailed a fast, hard shot to the top left corner of the net, scoring her second goal of the season to put the Ags up 6-0 at the half.
With the large lead, Carins put in players that have seen minimal playing time this season to give them experience, but the team didn’t look any different.
Within minutes, sophomore forward Jessica Williams scored her first goal of the season with an uncontested shot. Junior forward Kiersten Nilsson scored her first and second goals of the season in the second half. The first came off a high bounce that went over the head of the goalkeeper who timed her jump wrong, and into the back of the net.
Junior defender Alyssa Lowry, who scored her first goal of her college career earlier this season, scored her third goal of the season off an assist from fellow defender Smart.
“That’s important to get players that have been in and out of our top 15 through 20, in terms of depth of roster,” Cairns said. “It was important to get them minutes and be able to get them experience.”
After USU had a domineering 10-0 lead, Louisiana Tech poked in their lone goal in the 74th minute of play off a powerful shot that mimicked Salmon’s shot earlier in the game, even from the same place.
With the loss, the Lady Techsters fell to 0-6-1 on the season and 2-14-1, while USU improved to 9-10 overall and 5-2 in conference play.
“I think the key to us doing well in conference play is going to be that a lot of people have confidence,” Cairns said about looking forward. “We’re not going to do it with nine players having confidence and the rest being unconfident. So that’s where I think it was really important that the roster from head to toe is feeling confident, that they can make contributions, that they can play at the level needed to win a WAC championship.”
-seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu