Lady Aggies step into first place with shutout
The Utah State women’s soccer team welcomed first place Texas State to Check and Gloria Bell Soccer Field on Sunday afternoon, where the Aggies defeated the Bobcats in convincing fashion, 4-0.
“We knew coming into this weekend that it was a home weekend and that it was very important for us to go out with an attacking mentality,” said USU head coach Heather Cairns. “We have been working on it for the past couple of weeks and hadn’t quite seen it come to fruition as much as we would have liked. We really felt like it really started coming together today. We are very excited that we scored multiple goals, but also really proud of the fact we are still earning shutouts.”
Texas State came into the game with sole possession of the WAC lead. With the win, USU has taken control of first place with a record of 2-0-2 in conference play and 7-2-6 overall.
It didn’t take long for the Aggies to score and take control of the game. Sophomore striker Lexi Morgan cleaned up a loose ball in the Bobcats 18-yard box by putting it in the back of the net just eight minutes into the match. It was Morgan’s first goal of the season.
“I think we played awesome today,” Morgan said. “We are all so excited to get this win and we are just really confident right now. It’s good for all of us to step up and we had a lot of girls come on the field and play really well today. It was a great game and a great weekend for us.”
Just three minutes later, freshman Maris Hamblin, with her back toward the goal, received a pass from sophomore Lauren Roundy and took a shot on goal, but straight to the goalkeeper.
Texas State almost pulled even a few minutes later, but the shot was saved by USU’s Ashlyn Mulford before it hit the crossbar and was cleared by the Aggie defense.
Roundy scored her first career goal for USU in the 18th minute. Once again, there was miscommunication in the box between the Texas State players as Roundy doubled the score. The assist was given to junior forward Mari Miyashiro and Hamblin.
Mulford came up big again for USU in the 30th minute when she had a great diving save off of a Bobcats free-kick on the edge of the 18-yard box.
One minute later, the Aggies went up 3-0. Miyashiro played a through ball to junior Jennifer Flynn who outran the Texas State defense and beat the goalkeeper on the one-on-one.
USU played one of their better first halves of the season by coming out aggressive, winning 50/50 balls and spacing the field.
“We have definitely stepped up a lot this whole weekend,” junior midfielder Jessica Hoskin said. “We definitely knew going into it we needed to win 50/50 balls and that was huge for us going into the attack because we were able to posses in the third and be able to go forward.”
In the second half, the Aggies kept the pressure on the Bobcats and created numerous goal scoring opportunities.
Flynn almost netted her second goal of the match in the 62nd minute off of a corner kick, but her shot went just right of the goal.
In the 67th minute, Roundy and Hamblin connected with each other, like in the first half, but the shot was saved by Texas State’s goalkeeper Natalie Gardini.
USU almost scored off yet another corner kick after Gardini made a bad clearance. The ball found its way to senior defender Natalie Norris, who shot the ball toward goal, but Gardini recovered in time to save the ball.
Sophomore forward Jade Tarver scored the final goal of the game in the 78th minute. The goal came off a cross from Ambryn McCallison and all Tarver had to do was head the ball in.
“We were really excited that so many people stepped up,” Cairns said. “Number one, our attack was divers and we had a lot of people contribute to it and that we had a lot of first timers contribute to it and step up in that way.”
USU outshot Texas State 18-12 and 6-3 on corner kicks. Mulford earned yet another shutout for the Aggies, who now have seven total including four in a row.
“Our defenders know they are a huge part of our success,” Cairns said. “Nano (Norris) and ‘T’ (Taryn Rose) have this great chemistry that they work so well together. They are never working alone.”
The Aggies’ offensive explosion of seven goals in two games comes on the heels of scoring just two goals in their previous six matches. It was the most goals scored by USU since 2011 after they beat Idaho State 6-1.
USU hits the road for their final two away games of the season. They will take on Seattle on Friday and then travel to Moscow to take on the University of Idaho on Sunday.
– jborba@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @JBorba15