Ag soccer fails to notch first BWC win
It was a tough day to let one slip away.
Playing its final home game of the season, the Utah State University women’s soccer team held a 2-1 lead at halftime, but gave up three goals in the second half to lose 4-2 to the Cal Poly Mustangs (10-5 overall, 4-0 Big West play).
USU (6-8-3, 0-5-1), which hasn’t won a game since Sept. 29, also saw action at home Friday as it tied the University of California Santa Barbara Gauchos 3-3.
Aggie forward Amber Tracy powered in USU’s two goals Sunday, both coming in an action-packed first half.
Tracy’s first goal came a little more than 26 minutes into the first half as she slipped the ball in from the right side of the box past diving Mustang goalie Greta Shidron.
In the 30th minute, USU received a scare as leading scorer Brigid Turner went down at the midfield sideline with a sprained ankle. She sat out the rest of the half but was back in the second.
The Mustangs responded in the 40th minute as forward Megan Schlegel broke through the Aggie defense from the top middle of the penalty box and booted the ball inside the far right corner of the net to tie the score.
With 26 seconds left, Tracy finished out the half by ripping the ball from about 30 yards out, after which it hit the crossbar and crossed the goal line before the Poly goalie caught it, giving USU a 2-1
advantage.
“[Amber is] so powerful and made some really good decisions,” said Utah State Head Coach Jen Kennedy Croft. “Amber was smart enough to hit it. [The Mustang goalie] was off her line, and … what a great shot.”
Then came the second half, which has been a different story for the Aggies all season long.
Croft put in backup goalie Amy Johnson for the final 45 minutes to give her some confidence in the net, but the move quickly backfired as the Aggie defense let three goals slip by them.
“We give in a lot of soft goals and we’ve struggled with that all year,” Croft said. “I keep telling them that I have coaches from every conference team we play say, ‘You played a great game,’ but we continue to give up soft goals. We’re frustrated with that. Obviously we haven’t found the solution. It’s definitely a tough way to end our home stand here.”
Tracy said, “When we play quick one-two touch our team plays the best I’ve ever seen them play. Then we lose it. I don’t know if we dribble or lose mentality, but we let down and that’s when the other team steps it up, when we don’t play like a team.”
USU 3, UCSB 3 20T
After falling behind twice Friday afternoon, the Aggies maintained their focus to tie the University of California Santa Barbara
(9-3-2, 2-0-1).
The third tie of the season for USU wasn’t the desired outcome, but as Croft said afterward, not losing is better than nothing.
“We didn’t lose and we’ve really been struggling lately,” she said. “We held them in overtime and I think that was a good thing. The fact that we were down 3-2 and ended up scoring again shows the composure and the desire of this team.”
Turner matched her freshman season in goal production by notching her 12th goal in the 20th minute off a Chanel Blaquiere cross pass.
“That was just an awesome cross by Chanel,” Turner said. “She just takes the line really well. She has a really nice touch on the ball and gives a nice cross in. It’s a present.”
USU forward Claire Schend scored her first collegiate goal off a rebound to end the first half.
In the 81st minute, Aggie forward Lacey Poulton put in the tying goal as she dribbled past two defenders and the goalie for a wide open shot.
-samhis@cc.usu.edu
USU´s Charlsie Harris moves the ball against UCSB. (Photo by Cory Hill)