Aggies lose at home, bounce back
The Utah State women’s soccer team lost a heart-breaker to the Northern Colorado Bears 1-0 on Friday, but returned to form Sunday with a 2-1 overtime win at Utah Valley.
Northern Colorado 1, Utah State 0
The Aggies returned home to face the Bears of the University of Northern Colorado at Chuck and Gloria Soccer Field and lost their first game of the season 1-0.
The two teams traded possession for much of the first half as neither team could find a rhythm to the game. The Aggies didn’t threaten the Bears’ goal for the first time until the 25th minute. Maris Hamblin crossed the ball into the box and a soaring Kendra Pemberton put a foot on the ball, but wasn’t able to direct it toward goal.
Pemberton had another golden opportunity in the final minute of the half to give USU the lead. Her header was cleared off the line by a UNC defender.
The teams went into the break tied at zero. The second half began much like the first until the Aggies awoke in the 65th minute. Pemberton was once again involved in the action, taking a shot on goal that was saved by Northern Colorado keeper Natalie D’Adamio.
“I think what showed was our inexperience,” said Aggie head coach Heather Cairns.
After a quiet first, junior midfielder Jennifer Flynn looked alive in the second. In the 67th minute, she received the ball on the right wing and took it into the 18-yard box, but D’adamio had a spectacular diving save to keep the game deadlocked.
“We had our opportunities,” Flynn said. “We just couldn’t finish and they had one shot on goal and they made it. That’s how soccer works. It’s not who shoots more, it’s who scores more and today they scored more.”
Three minutes later the Bears caught the Aggies off guard and scored the only goal of the match off a free kick in the middle of the field. Defender Ambree Bellin crossed the ball to the head of freshman midfielder Morgan Rynearson, who found the back of the net.
“If they had scored in the first half when we weren’t playing that well, we could have accepted that a little bit better,” Cairns said. “But to score on the only shot of the half, it was frustrating.”
USU countered for the final 20 minutes of the match with an onslaught of shots but to no avail, outshooting the Bears 13-1.
Utah State 2, Utah Valley 1
Pemberton broke the 1-1 deadlock in the 96th minute to give Utah State the 2-1 victory over Utah Valley at Clyde Field in Orem, Utah on Sunday.
Defender Taryn Rose served a free kick into the box, where Pemberton buried a header past UVU keeper Jessica Duffin to give the Aggies the golden-goal win.
The first half ended in a 1-0 lead for Utah State, the only goal a shot to the upper 90 by sophomore forward Jade Tarver in the 28th minute.
Utah Valley equalized in the 78th minute when Wolverine forward Regan Benson made the only blemish in Aggie senior keeper Ashlyn Mulford’s otherwise clean sheet and sent the match into overtime.
The Aggies, now 4-1-1, will head to Portland, Ore. to face Eastern Washington and Portland State in the Portland State Viking Classic from Sept. 7-9.
– jborba@aggiemail.usu.edu,
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @stuckiaggies