Forwards dominate play at home
After firing off a scoreless 21 shots against Texas State Thursday, the USU women’s soccer team unleashed a scoring frenzy on Northern Colorado, Saturday, winning 3-0 at home.
For the first time this season, the Aggies won a game by more than one goal and improved to 2-3-1 on the season. While USU did many things well, it was their forwards that stole the show. Three Aggie forwards scored three different ways to beat the Bears.
“It’s very big for us because we’ve been struggling offensively,” said senior defender Jessie Malaska. “We’ve been having good plays up top but haven’t been able to get it in the back of the net. So today it’s like we broke through and got it done.”
Scoring early was key to the Aggies’ success, freshman forward Shantel Flanary said. She ended the day with one goal and one assist, making her the team points leader this season.
Flanary was the spark that allowed the Aggies to score in the 15th minute of play. Dribbling down the right side of the field, Flanary made a textbook perfect play with a long cross to senior forward Candice Clark, who was in prime scoring position on the left side of the net. Clark headed the ball to the lower right corner of the goal to put the Aggies up 1-0. It was Clark’s first goal of the season.
“It’s always nice to get on top first,” Flanary said. “Candice, give her props, it was a deep cross and she kind of had to jump over a defender.”
After the initial goal, the possession time was fairly evenly split between Northern Colorado and USU. The Bears had a few chances to score in the first half but a stingy Aggie defense forced them to take ineffective deep shots.
With a veteran back line, the Aggie defense was active and everywhere Northern Colorado didn’t want them to be, thwarting shots and feeding the ball forward to give the offense chances to score, Malaska said.
“If somebody got beat, another defender was there to cover us,” Malaska said. “We were communicating very well. The defense was really on. We were together as a defense should be – together and tight.”
Going into the second half with a 1-0 lead, USU head coach Heather Cairns said she urged her team to play strong the second half and put away the Bears, and her team responded.
Not two minutes into the second half, the Aggies added another score. Junior forward Erin Salmon took a dangerous shot on Northern Colorado goalkeeper Kirsten Salminen and had the shot deflected. Sophomore forward Lauren Hansen snagged the rebound, took time to set up her shot and fired in a solid goal from six yards out to put her team up 2-0.
The Aggies scored their final goal in the 61st minute off a corner kick. Junior defender Lindsey Smart delivered a well-positioned corner to Flanary, who headed the ball in for the score. Flanary has two goals and one assist on the season.
“The goals we scored were sweet goals,” Cairns said. “One off a cross, one off a corner, one off the run of play rebound. Three goals, three different ways. We were much more effective in the attacking third today.”
While the Bears never managed to slip the ball past USU goalkeeper Ali Griffin and were outshot 12-9, they had a couple close scares, including a long, hard shot from 30 yards out that clinked off the left goal post. Griffin ended the day with five saves and earned her first shutout win of the season.
“I was really proud we didn’t let these guys get back in the game and we kept pushing,” Cairns said.
Malaska echoed Cairns comments, saying, “A shutout’s good for us. That’s what we’ve been looking for because the last few games we’ve been scored on, so we were looking for a shutout today but with a win.”
–seth.h@aggiemail.usu.edu