Ags on road in Washington
The competition doesn’t get any easier for the Aggies, but that’s the way USU Head Coach Heather Cairns planned it.
After going 1-1 during their brief home stint, the USU women’s soccer team takes to the road again for a two-game weekend against Gonzaga University and Eastern Washington.
“I think the Washington trip is going to be a good one for us,” Cairns said in a USU athletic media relations press release. “Winning two out of three this past week certainly gave us some confidence. It gave us some wins in the column and we’re a stronger team now when it comes down to the wire and fighting for games.”
USU will need that confidence in the games to come.
Including the matches this weekend, the Aggies will have played seven road games and only two at home. After this weekend the Aggies only have four more away games and six at home, with the last three games of the season on the friendly turf of Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field.
Added to the strains of playing on the road, the soccer team still has yet to face some challenging opponents like Brigham Young University, which is ranked 18th in the Soccer Times poll, and the University of Utah, a team ranked last season.
But first, they have to make it past this weekend.
Gonzaga comes off an impressive 2-0 week, downing Vanderbilt 2-0 on Friday and the University of Alabama-Birmingham 2-1, Sunday. The Bulldogs are 4-2 on the season.
The Bulldog’s are an experienced squad, led by six seniors and four juniors that played on last seasons squad. This experience has paid off already as five of the Bulldog’s eight goals and seven assists have been tallied by upperclassman. Four of the six senior players – Christine Soma, Jamie Blanche, Lauren Zuckerman and Nanda McCormick – have scored goals for Gonzaga.
Soma and Zuckerman are a particularly dangerous duo, each with one goal and assist on the season.
But the upperclassmen can’t claim all the glory.
Freshman midfielder Ashley Riley was one of 11 athletes named to the Soccer Buzz National Elite Team of the Week after scoring two goals in the Vanderbilt University Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., last weekend. Riley was also named the MVP of the same tournament.
On the other side of the field, sophomore goalkeeper Jessie Thalman is currently ranked second on the Gonzaga career shutout list, with nine career shutouts, three of which have been tabbed this season. Thalman has a .800 save percentage on the season as well, allowing only five goals this year.
After facing Gonzaga, Friday at 4 p.m., the Aggies move across the state to take on Eastern Washington at noon on Sunday, Sept. 23.
Eastern Washington posts a 2-3 record, most recently losing 3-1 to Western Athletic Conference foe, Boise State on Sunday. Against the Aggies, the Eages are split, with the record being 2-2. Last season the Aggies beat Eastern Washington 1-0 at home, but have yet to beat the Eagles in Cheney, Wash.
The Eagles are led by Cyeeta Mott, who has two goals and two assists on the season. She is joined in the offensive attack by Chelsey Hannesson, who has two goals.
Goalkeeper Ashley Renz has 20 saves and a .714 save percentage on the season.
The Aggies are led by senior forward Dana Peart, who leads the team in scoring with four goals and one assist, with two of the goals being game winners. She was recently named to Top Drawer Soccer’s National team of the Week. to the Senior midfielder Abby Hunt joins Peart for the Aggies’ offensive power with two goals on the season.
Junior Lacey Christenson is tied with sophomore defender Lindsey Smart with two assists on the year, which leads the team.
Junior goalkeeper Ali Griffin posts a .788 save percentage and has already snagged 26 saves on the year.
While USU has a losing 3-4 mark, the team goes into the weekend with confidence.
“Each game we get better,” Christenson said. “Each game we get more on the same page and connect.”
-seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu