Men’s soccer sweeps matches against in-state foes
The Utah State men’s soccer team remains undefeated after claiming victory in both of its away games this weekend. Saturday morning, the Aggies took to the field and defeated the Westminster Griffins, 4-1.
The team played aggressively from the beginning, scoring its first two goals in the first 10 minutes.
In the 4th minute of play, forward Nico Laicak pulled out his first of two goals. Inside midfielder Jordan Butterfield came up soon after, in the 8th minute, to get in the second goal of the game, after a penalty kick, warming up his offense to score twice again later in the day, against Utah Valley.
Westminster was then able to get a goal off a deflection from a corner kick to bring the score 2-1, when it remained up until halftime.
In the second half, the Aggies gained possession and continued to gain ground against the Griffins, as Laicak scored his second goal of the game at the 78th minute.
“I’ve played on several different teams, and this one specifically has something special in terms of talent and team spirit,” Laicak said. “I believe it has something to do with the way Coach Morgan leads us. In the Westminster game, we played a good possession and won deservedly.”
In the last few minutes of the game, forward Hayden Monson scored at the 89th minute on a breakaway kick, after he got past the goalie and dribbled it in for the Aggies’ fourth goal of the game.
With only a four-hour break between games, the Aggies brought out another strong defense to take on the Utah Valley Wolverines and to add another victory to the undefeated season, winning the game 4-2.
Utah State was able to pull out its first two goals within the first 15 minutes of the game. Outside midfielder James Calvimonte scored a breakaway goal at the 10th minute to start the game. Team captain and center back Trey Leonard scored just five minutes later on a header off of a perfect cross.
“We dominated the majority of the game,” Leonard said. “Our success was based off a high percentage of possession, and keeping patient and organized.”
The score remained 2-0 into the second half, until inside midfielder Jordan Butterfield added a goal with a hard-driven shot into the corner of the net at the 65th minute, which was good for his first goal of the game and second goal on the day.
After a hard 10 minutes of play, the Wolverines scored as Utah State conceded a goal. Soon after, Utah Valley made a penalty kick, bringing the score 3-2.
After Utah Valley scored its two goals and a Utah State player was pulled out due to a red card, the Aggies pulled together in the last five minutes to get their last goal of the game, courtesy of Butterfield in the 85th minute.
“Against Utah Valley, we were physically fatigued and exhausted from the previous game, but we showed how mentally tough our team is,” Butterfield said.
Leonard agreed with Butterfield, he said he was equally proud of the team’s performance.
“Overall, while being short several key players, we managed to play our best in both games today, conserving our energy by playing possession and taking advantage of our scoring opportunities,” he said. “We have a team with more talent than any other USU men’s soccer team I have ever been a part of. We have the potential to have success throughout the rest of the season and are excited for our upcoming games this weekend”
– macael.ivie@aggiemail.usu.edu