A double dose of loss for the soccer team
In sports, there is a thing called cruel irony; the soccer team was a victim of it.
After posting an undefeated season in conference play, the Aggie soccer squad felt confident they could win the WAC Soccer Tournament in Reno, Nev., Head Coach Heather Cairns said. After all, the first match of the tournament for USU was the semifinals match on Friday, Nov. 3, against the University of Nevada, a team the Aggies downed 2-0 at home on Oct. 26. The Aggies were perfectly poised to take it all.
But something went wrong as Nevada reversed the tables, and gave back the two goals the Aggies dealt them a few weeks previous. The Aggies left Reno empty-handed as they lost 2-0 to the Wolf Pack to end their best season of WAC play.
“I was not prepared to give the end-of-the-year speech at the end of the game Friday,” Cairns said. “We all thought we had a chance to be in the championship game [on Sunday].”
The Aggies, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, started the game out strong with early scoring attempts. Junior midfielder Abby Hunt struck the cross bar in the fourth minute of play, but the ball was cleared by Wolf Pack goalkeeper Caitlin Holmes.
In the early minutes of the game, the play was evenly dispersed as the ball went back and forth across the field. The beginning of the end for the Aggies occurred in the 12th minute of play when Nevada defender Randee Robinson drilled in a bouncing ball inside the 6-yard box that came off a free kick after an Aggie foul.
With the goal, the Wolf Pack enjoyed a 1-0 lead and changed the style of offensive attack to destroying mode. For the remainder of the half the Aggies struggled to get the ball in the back of the net.
Senior forward Charity Weston had an opportunity in the 18th minute as she fired a shot, but it was blocked by Holmes. Lindsey Smart, the WAC Freshman of the Year, nailed a free kick from 30 yards out, but again Holmes destroyed the scoring opportunity.
“The first half we were pretty happy with the way we started out,” Cairns said. “Before their goal it was back and forth. The problem was when they finished the opportunity. Because they were up one goal, they were able to change the way they played and really got into destroying play. That made it really hard for us to play against them.”
At the half, Cairns said her team had to regroup and change the style of play to have a better opportunity to score. Nevada prevented the ground attack so the Aggies changed to a more direct approach, getting the ball as close to the net as possible.
“Charity got in in the first few mintues of the half, but after that, it took the winds out of our sails,” Cairns said. “We kept pushing throughout the half. We ended up giving up a goal trying to be aggressive. That’s why you don’t let teams score early goals. I think that the early goal was really the difference for sure.”
Nevada scored the second goal in the 75th minute from 20 yards out to guarantee the victory. The Aggies never had another scoring opportunity and the Wolf Pack moved on to the championship match against Fresno State.
“I have to say we didn’t have a lot of opportunities,” Cairns said. “While we didn’t have a ton of opportunities, we did have enough to change the game, but we weren’t able to convert.”
The Aggies finished the season with a 10-8-2 overall record, tying the school win record with 10, and posting the second best season win percentage ever. This is only the second winning season the USU soccer team has had since it started. Cairns said she credits the reason for the winning season to seniors Sierra Smith, Charlsie Harris and Weston. While losing to Nevada ended the season, Cairns said the more difficult loss will be the seniors on the team.
“The saddest part is losing our three seniors,” Cairns said. “Things will be different without them. They really helped us get where we are. They will leave with the best winning percentage out of any four year player here.
“I hope that the work that these seniors put in will pay off next year. My goals for next year aren’t much different from this year – to win the conference championship.”
-sethhawkins@cc.usu.edu