Soccer team picks up second win
The Utah State women’s soccer team picked up its second win of the season against rival Idaho State Saturday in Logan, topping the Bengals 2-0.
“It feels great,” senior midfielder Tiffany McQueen said. “Idaho State is always a big rival of ours. To finally play 90 good minutes of good soccer we finally proved it to ourselves and Idaho state.”
In the 14th minute of the game, Utah State’s Charity Weston found the back of the net. McQueen played a ball to a streaking Dana Peart who found Weston in front of the goal.
“That was probably the best combination play for a goal that we’ve had this year,” Utah State Head Coach Heather Cairns said. “It was thrilling, like three things coming together all at once.”
The goal was Weston’s third of the week.
The Aggies have lost the last two games against the Bengals, something they didn’t want to repeat coming into the game. So Cairns said Utah State really worked on its attacking.
“It’s great to see the attack click,” she said. “One thing we worked on a lot this week is building into the attack and I think that really helped us control the flow of play. I was a little bit nervous at the end of the first half because we were attacking so fast, that there was a really big gap between our attack and defenders.”
At the half, Cairns said she talked to the team about closing that gap, something they needed to do to keep Idaho State from scoring.
For much of the second half, Cairns said the Aggies did a really good job of adjusting and covering the field well.
Mid-way through the second half, the Aggies again found the back of the net. This time it came from junior Sierra Smith with her first career goal.
“The second goal was definitely crucial because it put the game in our control,” McQueen said. “A 1-0 game, it could have changed the game if she didn’t put that goal in. It actually kind of changed the game after that goal, for a while. After that goal we were able to kind of calm down.”
Cairns said she told Smith that she needed to work on getting numbers up on the board with either assists or goals.
“For her to be able to do that and to finish that and gain some confidence is great,” she said. “Outside midfielders do a lot of work and don’t get a ton of touches on the ball. That second goal was key. Because if it is still 1-0, that gives them a lot better of a shot to come back than if it is 2-0.”
The Aggies will finish out their four-game homestand this week.
They will first face Utah Thursday at 4 p.m.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu