Season ends in loss and awards
For the second straight year Utah State exited the Mountain West Conference tournament after holding a lead for most of the game. This year the Aggies led 1-0 at halftime before seeing Colorado College score three separate times in the second half, eventually losing 3-1.
In the 64th minute Colorado College’s Sarah Schweiss tied the game.
“We knew that whoever scored the second goal of the contest was really going to have the momentum and that goal was really going to be a game changer,” said USU head coach Heather Cairns. “They scored on a counterattack that was really a breakdown of individual defensive, we had probably three or four players get broken in one vs one situations which is unusual for us because usually we are tighter than that.”
Colorado College will play top seed and tournament host San Diego State while Wyoming and New Mexico —two teams that USU beat in the regular season— will play each other in the other semi-final.
“I thought we had a good season, I mean we didn’t end as well as we hoped for,” said senior forward Ambryn McCallson. “Being able to make it to the conference tournament is a big deal, being one of the top six is still a big honor and unfortunately we didn’t get the turnout that we wanted but I think that we had a good season after all.”
This was USU’s second season in the MWC and they finished fifth in the conference both years.
The Aggies finished the season with a 10-8-2 record.
“I think the season was a good one, we played some very good soccer. We were tight defensively we did the best that we could in the attack,” Cairns said. “But I think that we really played some great soccer and put on a good show for our fans this year.”
The graduating senior class finished as the winningest senior class in school history. Including conference tournament games they finished with 54 wins.
“I think being the winningest class is something that comes with a lot of devotion and hard work, which really describes our class,” McCallson said. “I wouldn’t say that there are any stand out stars in our class but we all worked so hard as a unit that it made it possible to achieve the winningest class.”
Taryn Rose wins MWC defensive player of the year
Taryn Rose has no shortage of accolades from her four season campaign with Utah State. However, just a day before the Aggies saw their season end with a first round exit from the Mountain West Tournament she received one more award. Rose was named as the conference defensive player of the year.
“That is such a cool thing,” said USU head coach Heather Cairns. “There is no other way to describe it, she is the heart and soul of our defense.”
Rose was second-team all Mountain West last season and second-team all Western Athletic Conference in her freshman and sophomore seasons. She also was WAC freshman of the year in 2011.
“Having a solid center back is vital to the team you can’t replace someone like Taryn Rose someone who is devoted on and off the field. Having her as the rock back there really made it possible for the rest of the team to thrive off of her,” said senior forward Ambryn McCallson.
However this is USU’s second year in a new conference and Cairns said that this award helps the Aggies transition.
“That’s a big award,” Cairns said. “This is only our second year in the conference and we’ve been finishing in the middle of the pack so we’re working on building up our reputation in the conference and hopefully people are starting to respect us more and for her to earn that big time award is just fantastic and it’s really well deserved.”
Senior midfielder Lexi Morgan also received second team all-conference honors.
Rose is part of the winningest senior class in Utah State history. Including conference tournament wins this senior class finished with 54 wins.
“This senior class has been fantastic, they actually will finish as the winningest senior class by one game. That alone tells you how big of an impact they have made on our program in terms of on the field and their productivity,” Cairns said.
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