Records, road matches at stake for USU
There is an old saying that records are made to be broken.
Two of them might just fall when the Utah State University’s women soccer team travels Friday to Flagstaff, Ariz. to compete in the Mountain Classic hosted by Northern Arizona University.
Aggie forward Brigid Turner is three goals away from breaking former Aggie Jayme Gordy’s all-time record of 25 goals as an Aggie.
Does Turner feel pressure to break the record now? A little, she said, but not as much as she did at the start of the season.
“I thought about it more at the beginning of the season,” she said. “Now that I’m so close, I feel like there is less pressure because we have so many games left.”
Aggie Head Coach Jen Kennedy Croft said she isn’t worried about whether or not Turner will break the record, but said achieving it will be tougher for her because she is a targeted player.
“[Turner] is doing well to get rid of the ball for us and get other people open [to score],” Croft said.
Turner has six goals and one assist this season.
USU midfielder Ally Clegg tied the Aggie record of assists in a career last Friday against Air Force, notching her seventh. One more assist this weekend would put Clegg ahead of five other former Aggies who hold the same record.
The first chance to make USU history for the two will come Friday as the Aggies open tournament play facing their old Big West Conference rival Boise State University Broncos (3-3-1) at 4 p.m. Another chance presents itself Sunday against the NAU Lumberjacks (2-5) at 2 p.m.
The Broncos come into Friday’s match off of a win last Sunday over Eastern Washington University.
Turner said the team is confident coming into the match because of what was a positive performance a week ago to overcome adversity on the road. In their first road trip of the season, USU took out Air Force 3-2 and fell to Wyoming in double-overtime.
USU has never lost to the Broncos, with each of the past two wins coming by shutout.
NAU has struggled this season, notching their second win last Sunday. In 2001, USU came away victorious 3-1 on the road against the Lumberjacks.
A key aspect to coming away on top this weekend, Croft said, is for USU to be focused mentally. During last week’s road trip, as well as in a handful of other matches this season, she has mentioned a ’20-minute lapse’ the team has been having in the matches.
She said it is a team mental lapse and nothing physical.
“We score and we kind of let down and they score right away,” she said. “We need to somehow get past that.”
-samhis@cc.usu.edu