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Soccer tops Colorado State

jeff Dahdah, assistant sports editor

The Utah State women’s soccer team won 3-0 Friday against Colorado State in Fort Collins. The win improved the Aggies to 8-5-2 on the season and 4-2 in Mountain West Conference play.

The Aggies struck early with a goal in the 24th minute by Jessica Brooksby and assisted by Jessica Hoskin-Killpack.

The Aggies continued their pressure when Maris Hamblin found the back of the net in the 40th minute on an assist by Jayne Robinson. Robinson would have a goal of her own in the second half in the 70th minute this time, with Lexie Morgan collecting the assist.

“I thought our finishing was fantastic,” said Aggie head coach Heather Cairns. “We created some great opportunities.”

USU was efficient in its shot selection. The Aggies put a shot on goal four times and three of them found their way into the goal.

“We were very efficient, but at times it wasn’t pretty and we got too anxious,” Cairns said. “We need to sharpen things up.”

USU smothered the Rams on defense, keeping CSU off the board holding them to one shot on goal. The game was the second consecutive shutout for the Aggies and their seventh of the year.

“Colorado State played fairly well and they had some possession on us. They are better than their record shows,” Cairns said. “We are very happy with the shutout, however.”

The game almost wasn’t played because of snow in Fort Collins. The game was moved to the CSU practice field, where snow had to be bulldozed off the field before the game could start.

“Everything was up in the air,” Cairns said. “Colorado State’s administration did a great job.”

This marked the final road game for the Aggies as they finish off their season with four straight home games, including three games this week.

“It’s going to be tough, but we were able to rest a lot of players today,” Cairns said.

21 different Aggies took the field during the game. Cairns said the rest for the players will be a factor for the upcoming week, where they have a game on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

“We are a deep team and we have a great bench, and we do well without a bench,” Cairns said. “We need a good output from our bench this week.”

The Aggies kick off their three-game homestand Tuesday at 3 p.m. against Air Force in a game that was postponed due to the government shutdown. USU will then host New Mexico and San Diego State on Friday and Sunday.

All three teams are ahead of or tied with the Aggies in the MWC standings.

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