Aggies take out Cougars to remain undefeated in conference play

The Utah State Aggies soccer team extended their conference winning streak to three games after defeating the Washington State Cougars 2-0. The Aggies entered the game on a two-game win streak. The Cougars entered having won their last three games, and sitting alongside the Aggies at the top of the conference rankings.

While the score at half showed the Aggies only up by one, the Aggies largely dominated the first half of the action against the Cougars. The ball remained on the Cougars’ side of the field for nearly the entirety of the first fifteen minutes. While the Aggies outshot the Cougars 7-1 in the first half, the only goal USU scored in the half came from a penalty kick by Kunie Hirai, who was tackled across the middle of the field, leading to the penalty. The Aggies capitalized on the goal and took an early 1-0 lead.

While the Cougars were able to string together a play or two, the Aggies continued to dominate possession throughout the first half. The Aggie defense was able to shut down any momentum that WSU began to develop, helping the Aggies to maintain the close 1-0 lead as they went into halftime.

“Overall, we had a lot of good effort, and our defense did a really good job of shutting them down,” forward Solena Sellers said. “Anything can happen in soccer, so you have to stay locked in, and our defense was able to stay on top of it.”

To open the half, USU came out of the gates relatively slowly compared to the first half, letting WSU apply early pressure and giving them multiple attempts to score early in the half.

“I did think we started the second half a little bit slower than we liked, but we did find our rhythm,” head coach Manny Martins said. “I took a little longer than I’d like to at half time, so we didn’t have to do a proper restart warm-up.”

Despite the slow start to the half, the Aggies quickly took control of the game again, once again commanding the ball for the majority of the half. At the 71-minute mark, the Aggies were able to add to the lead when Sellers was able to catch the Cougars on the back foot in transition, getting the ball to Mia Mullenmeister, who was able to find the back of the net.

“We’ve been working on our attack transitions, and Mia made a great one there,” Sellers said. “When I saw her in that pocket, I just played a great ball for her.” 

With an assurance goal added, the Aggies only took control of the game even more, applying pressure on the Cougar defense all the way to the end of the game.

While statistically the game may have appeared to be a close match, how the game unfolded on the field told a different story. The Aggies only took 17 shots today, nearly half of their season average of 35 shots per game. Despite the fewer shots, the Aggies were still able to limit opportunities for the Cougars to score by dominating in the possession game.

“We always talk about the fact that we have to be good at controlling the game through possession, but we also have to be good at controlling the game without the ball sometimes,” Martins said. “I think the foundation of how we’ve built this program was on how to manage and control games without the ball. Over the last couple of years, we have grown into controlling the game with the ball as well. We are well versed in both, and I think we did a good job today.”

With the win, the Aggies are now 3-0 in conference play. They will head to Boise State on Sunday to take on the Broncos, who currently sit atop the PAC-12 alongside the Aggies.