Aggies sweep Gem-state foes
After being held scoreless in three of their last four games, the USU women’s soccer team returned the favor in the opening weekend of Western Athletic Conference play, shutting out Idaho and Boise State.
Perhaps the goals were on back order, or more likely, the Aggies have bought into USU head coach Heather Cairns’ philosophy of taking things one game at a time and making every shot count in WAC play.
“This weekend we’ve had such productivity from all of our attack,” Cairns said. “The nice thing about it is our scoring is really balanced as well.”
Over the weekend, five different players scored for a combined six Aggie goals, and goalkeeper Ali Griffin kept the Vandals and Broncos off the board to put the Aggies atop the WAC.
A bloodbath of bad blood
Going into Boise Sunday, Cairns said she knew it was going to be a tough match with intensity from both teams. There is a lot of bad blood between the teams after a controversial goal in the final minutes of last season’s match doomed USU.
This year it was an entirely different story, though the animosity only intensified with the Aggies stealing one on unfriendly turf with a 2-0 victory.
“It was a great game, it was very back and forth,” Cairns said. “Both teams had opportunities to score. We were fortunate that our forwards were pretty good today and made the most of their limited opportunities.”
In a game that Cairns described as “a bloodbath,” the Aggies and the Broncos combined for 50 fouls and six yellow cards evenly split between the teams. The physical battle prevented either team from scoring in the first half.
Cairns said her team played a rather flat first half and at the half challenged them to make something of the game.
They didn’t disappoint.
In the 70th minute of play, the Aggies benefited from one of the many fouls to set up a free kick. Junior defender Sydne Porter pounded the ball from 45 yards out to sophomore forward Lauren Hansen, who headed it in for USU’s first goal. Hansen has five goals and two assists on the season.
Five minutes later, the Aggies struck gold again, this time off a self-made play from senior forward Candice Clark. Intercepting a pass, Clark closed down a defender and took on the Bronco goalkeeper one on one. Though the BSU goalkeeper got a hand on the ball, Clark’s shot had enough force to find its way to the back of the net to seal the win.
The Broncos had a chance with six minutes left to get on the board when Dani Schwalbe hit the crossbar off a free kick, but in the end it was the Aggies who got the shutout.
“Today was all about character,” Cairns said. “The WAC games are going to come down to that – fight and character. For us to learn that game early as opposed to losing and having to figure it out afterward is a great place to be. We took care of business this weekend.”
With the win, USU improves to 7-7-1 overall and 2-0-0 in WAC play.
Young guns get it done
When it comes to conference play, Cairns said she relies on her veteran players to lead the way, but in the Aggies’ home WAC opener against Idaho, it was the freshmen who got it done.
Blowing out the Vandals 4-0, three freshmen scored in a game that saw a USU offense that was starting to click, Cairns said.
“I think they’re just developing more of a chemistry with each other,” Cairns said. “So if we can combine their individual talents with their ability to combine with each other, it’s really a tough group of forwards we have.”
In the opening minutes of the game, the Aggies did not look like they were going to steal the show, with Idaho dominating possession and keeping the USU defense busy.
“I think we kind of just caught off guard,” said freshman forward Shantel Flanary. “Idaho is a really good team. We just kind of came out a little bit flat, but once we got our feet under us, relaxed, I think we played our game.”
The Aggies got on the board with a free kick by freshman defender Summer Tillotson, who popped the ball over the line of Vandal defenders and past Idaho goalkeeper Liz Boyden.
Less than five minutes later, the Aggies struck again as freshman forward Marissa Sanchez took a feed from Hansen and took a smart shot from 10 yards out to give USU a comfortable 2-0 lead at the half.
But Cairns said she wasn’t content with the lead.
“We challenged them at halftime,” Cairns said. “We said, ‘We need to have two goals: one is to keep a clean sheet and two, is to put some nails in the coffin. We need to look to double what we did in the first half.'”
Thanks to Flanary, the Aggies did just that.
In the 60th minute of play, Flanary headed the ball off a Lindsey Smart corner kick to put the Aggies up 3-0.
After this goal, the Vandals switched goalkeepers, but Flanary got past her as well. With a deep assist from Porter, Flanary nailed the shot from seven yards out and sealed the victory and the freshman dominance.
While the freshmen were pleased with their play, Tillotson said, “We couldn’t have done it without everyone. It was a team effort, definitely.”
-seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu