Men’s soccer keeps rolling, defeats Madison 2-1
The Utah State men’s soccer team kept hold of an early lead to fend off BYU-Idaho’s club team, the Madison Dragons, with a final score of 2-1, a score which falls short of telling exactly how dominant the Aggies were the entire game.
Although it was cold and windy in Logan on Friday night, there was no lightning and the thunder as the Imagine Drag…er…Madison Dragons couldn’t do Whatever it Takes to take down the Aggies. However, it was raining shots as the Aggies kept the keeper busy pouring in 18 shots including 12 on goal, this opposed to the four the Dragons were able to get off. This game tacked on to an already rough night for BYU fans.
From the first kick of the ball, the Aggies looked geared up and ready to go. Unfortunately, a big injury from USU center forward Jake Haddock changed the game plan almost immediately. The injury came in just the third minute as Haddock stretched out for a great ball that was played down the right side by Connan Wallace.
It’s still too early to tell, but USU coach Brian Tippets sounded optimistic about Haddock’s status.
“I’m hoping it’s just a twist,” Tippets said. “He thinks it might be his meniscus, but I’m hoping nothing more serious than that, nothing ACL. I’ll be interested to see how it looks tomorrow after he ices tonight and how mobile he is then we will get a better idea for the rest of the season.”
Resilient as ever, the Aggies bounced back soon after, taking advantage of set pieces to grab a stunning goal from a power header flicked into the back of the far netting by midfielder Austin Howard, off a gorgeous free kick sliced in from about thirty yards out, off the boot of center back Romney Harker.
“I just know that Howard, that he just hits every header that I put in so he’s the go to guy,” Harker said. “I try to connect with him and just look for the sweet spot usually around the 6-yard box.”
Not more than four minutes later, the Aggies captured a second goal of the half with an absolute missile of a strike that curled its way off the left boot of winger Jaden Bybee, who made a great run through the defense and worked his way right to left across the top of the 18-yard box freeing up enough space to smash one in past the keeper.
In the 19th minute, Utah State led 2-0.
From this point on in the first half, things started to look pretty easy for the white shirts. They were putting pressure on Madison constantly, causing the opposition to get frustrated which resulted in a yellow card for BYU-I at the 23rd minute mark.
USU captains Cooper Hazen and Harker solidified the back line, which allowed fullbacks Chase Allan and Wallace to play higher upfield, causing a lot of turnovers for the Dragons on their side of the center touch line.
Midfielders Aye Moe and Ale Vieyra had great games as well, causing havoc from box to box and making some incredibly creative plays continuing to create chances on goal until the end of the first half.
Around the 40th minute is where the mood shifted slightly, and things became a little tense. Right before the end of the first half as the Aggies went in for a challenge just inside the box, which the referee didn’t think was clean, a penalty was awarded to Madison which they converted for their only goal of the game.
USU keeper Tevan Tippets was not pleased with this decision, and the referee acknowledged this with a yellow card. This was the second of the half for Utah State, as they were shown yellow just five minutes before going in for another challenge. Tippets was a good sport after the game as he elaborated on the situation.
“The yellow card truthfully wasn’t for the words,” he said. “I grabbed the ball and threw it away.”
He also shared his thoughts on the tackle leading to the penalty kick.
“Uhhh it was soft, it looked pretty clean, but that’s sometimes the way the calls go,” Tippets said. “I feel like it’s a rough one, but I would have loved to keep that shutout, but it happens that’s the game of soccer sometimes calls go your way sometimes they don’t.”
Nevertheless, the Aggies went into halftime with a 2-1 lead.
The second half saw a lot of changes coming for Utah State. They brought out keeper Gabriel Guerrero to finish off the game, but chose to keep the substitutions limited in the second half.
Keeping the pressure on, the Aggies continued to frustrate Madison as their chances were limited all night, some of this frustration started spilling over onto the pitch.
In the 61st minute a hard tackle prevented Moe from his attacking move as it looked surely that he was going to get into the box and possibly get a shot off. This resulted in a yellow card, which would be followed up by a red card just four minutes later as another player came in hard at the legs of Moe. The Dragons would go on to record four yellows and a red in the second half.
This didn’t phase the Aggies as they kept their composure and fought on.
“They kept their heads despite the bumps and challenges,” Coach Tippets said. “At this age, as fast as they play and as hard as they play, it’s tough for tempers not to flair once in a while and I think they’ve done a good job overall keeping their composure despite some of the challenges.”
Although they had a goal up on Madison, the Aggies were hungry to try and get another. A great strike from Bybee hit the post in the 70th minute, and four minutes later the duo of Harker and Howard almost had another one, this time as Harker struck a hard ball at the keeper who initially saved it but a bobble led to a loose ball and Howard was right there to clean it up and put it in the back of the net. However, the goal was waived off on an offside call.
“Oh that was not (offside), the kid was standing goal side of me and I’m positive it wasn’t offside,” Howard said. “And so I was shook when I saw cause that would have put the game away and that would have changed the whole momentum we would have been up by two with 15 minutes left that would have put it away.”
The Aggies never needed that third goal as their defense held strong despite a few attempts to try and close the gap, ending the game 2-1, turning a great piece of effort into a much-needed win.
USU’s record improves to 3-1-1, coming into a big matchup on Saturday against Utah Valley in Orem.
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