Soccer beats Seattle, advances to WAC championship
The Utah State women’s soccer team escaped an upset and booked its ticket into the WAC Tournament final. The No. 1-seeded Aggies took on No. 5 Seattle University Friday afternoon at Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field. USU survived a scare by the Redhawks 2-1.
“It’s the tournament so every game is going to be tight so we didn’t expect anything less,” USU head coach Heather Cairns said. “We didn’t expect two PK’s and only one goal in the run of play.”
The game-winning goal for the Aggies came in the final minute of regulation with the two teams tied 1-1. Junior Jennifer Flynn took the ball up the right flank and fired toward goal, putting it past Seattle goalkeeper Brianna Smallidge for the game winner.
“That goal was honestly amazing,” Flynn said. “Mari played me a perfect ball, shot it, the goalie got her hand on it but it went in and it was just the best feeling in the world.”
Aggies junior midfielder Kendra Pemberton made her return to the field and to the starting lineup after missing much of WAC conference play due to injury.
“Today we came into the game excited to play and excited to be here knowing that we needed to give everything that we had in order to get past this game,” senior Natalie Norris said. “Seattle is amazing and did not deserve to be ranked fifth in this conference. They are much better than their record.”
Things didn’t start off well for USU as junior Mari Miyashiro went down in the 14th minute with what appeared to be an ankle injury. Miyashiro had to be helped off the field by the USU training staff and didn’t return for the rest of the half.
In the first 15 minutes of the game, neither team threatened or could posses the ball for long periods of time.
It seemed like the Aggies had taken the lead in the 21st minute off of Flynn’s shot from just inside the 18 yard-box, but it hit the side netting and deceived fans in the crowd.
The Aggies outshot the Redhawks 9-4 in the first half with three on target and 5-1 on corners, but the teams went into the half tied 0-0.
The Aggies got their breakthrough goal in the 65th minute when Flynn was taken down in the 18 yard-box. The referee awarded the Aggies the penalty, and Norris stepped up to the spot and blasted the ball into the goal to give USU the 1-0 lead with 25 minutes to play.
“It was a good feeling getting that PK and I knew Nano would make it,” Flynn said.
Despite the goal, the Aggies continued to pressure the Redhawks but couldn’t put the game away.
With seven minutes left before the final whistle, Seattle equalized the game. The Redhawks were awarded a penalty kick and junior Julia Besagno took advantage and tied the game 1-1.
It seemed as though overtime was inevitable, but in the 89th minute USU put the game away.
Flynn received a pass from Miyashiro and took the ball up the right sideline. Flynn crossed the ball but Smallidge got a hand on the ball and directed it toward goal to put the Aggies in the lead.
“We bounced back from giving up the PK and just really kept fighting,” Cairns said. “It was a great individual effort by Flynn. I don’t know if Roundy touched it, but she was following it into the goal. Just a great way to end it.”
USU will now have one day to rest before Sunday’s championship match against Denver. The two teams tied for the WAC regular season title. USU traveled to Denver on Sept. 30 and came away with a 0-0 tie against the then-18th ranked Pioneers.
“We go into every game knowing we are going to have a hard
fought game and to play an incredible opponent will be a test for us, and hopefully we will be able to rise to the challenge,” Norris said.
The winner of the game on Sunday wins the WAC championship and also gets an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
“I don’t think its going to be a 0-0 game on Sunday,” Cairns said. “Both teams are going to be coming out and attacking. We are really going to have to transition well, put the ball in the back of the net, and we are going to have to keep check of their really creative attackers.”
— jborba@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @jborba15