Soccer: Aggies miss out on huge upset win over Huskies
The Utah State women’s soccer team returned home to take on the No. 23 Washington Huskies on Thursday afternoon. The Aggies held the Pac-12 powerhouse to a 1-1 tie after overtime.
“This is the best result we have had against a top 25 team, so it will go down in the history books. We are proud about that, but quite frankly we can’t help but come away feeling like we should have got a better result,” said Aggies Head Coach Heather Cairns. “We are bitter about it because we felt like we had chances to win it, so while it’s a great accomplishment, we’re hungry.”
The Huskies showed their superiority and created a handful of shots in the first half, but to no avail.
The Aggies took control of the half and had numerous opportunities to take the lead. USU kept the pressure on the Huskies, forcing five corner kicks and maintaining control of the ball throughout the half.
USU had two golden opportunities to take the lead in the early stages of the game. On both occasions, Washington goalkeeper Karli Davidson came up with huge saves to keep the game even.
“We had a lot of shots. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish them,” USU forward Mari Miyashiro said. “We came on and played our heart out.”
When Washington managed to regain control of the ball, they took eight shots, but none of them troubled USU goalkeeper Ashlyn Mulford.
The first half closed with the Aggies dominating possession but nothing on the scoreboard showed. Both teams went into the break tied at zero.
For the first 15 minutes of the second half, both teams traded possession at midfield without creating obvious goal-scoring chances.
In the 58th minute, the Aggies were finally able to break the deadlock.
Midfielder Kendra Pemberton began the USU attack with a pass to Miyashiro, who took on the goalkeeper in a one-on-one opportunity. Davidson blocked the shot, but the ball went flying behind her and Miyashiro was able to regain possession and shoot.
Her shot was deflected at the line and found its way out to Jennifer Flynn who was able to tap the ball into the back of the net and give the Aggies the advantage over the No. 23 team in the nation.
“There was a ton of people in the box, and I thought they were going to call an offside. I don’t really know what I was thinking, but I kind of waited and trailed in late,” Flynn said. “Everybody already had their mark, and I was unmarked and I tapped it right in.”
USU continued the attack but couldn’t double the score. Flynn had a chance to score her second goal of the game but her shot from outside the 18-yard box went just over the crossbar.
The Huskies put on the pressure in the final 10 minutes and equalized after numerous chances.
With USU needing just six minutes to pull of the upset, match referee Philp Paris awarded Washington a penalty kick in the 84th minute. Lindsay Elston capitalized on the spot kick and tie the game at 1-1.
The match was USU’s fifth overtime game of the season, and the Aggies were showing signs of fatigue in the overtime but still managed to outshoot Washington 5-2.
Neither team was able to get the golden goal, so the match ended in a draw.
Despite the Huskies being the ranked team and coming from the Pac-12 the Aggies outshot them 21-16.
“We had nine shots on goal, really good shots,” Flynn said. “We had been working on attacking all week long, and it definitely showed today. The defense was up with the attack and that is huge for our team.”
WIth the tie, USU’s record stands at 6-1-3 on the season.
The Aggies next game will be Sept. 20 at 4 p.m. when they host in-state rival No. 17 BYU.
“Two top 25 opponents in Logan back-to-back, so that’s the way we take it one game at a time,” Cairns said. “We are going to go into (the BYU game) as hungry as we did against these guys. We are going to give it our best shot and try to make history next week.”
– jborba@aggiemail.usu.edu