Soccer woes continue
A tough early season schedule continues to plague women’s soccer as the team lost both matches in this weekend’s City by the Bay Classic in San Francisco, Calif.
The Aggies have lost four-straight away matches, including two losses to ranked Arizona and Long Beach State.
Friday night the Aggies faced the No. 24-ranked Long Beach State 49ers. The USU defense prevented the early minutes scoring onslaught that has challenged the team in previous matches this season. The pressure on sophomore goalkeeper Ali Griffin was constant as Long Beach State attempted 10 shots in the first half alone. The Aggies could only muster four shots the entire game, all of which were in the first half.
“Long Beach is the 24th-ranked team in the country for a reason,” Head Coach Heather Cairns said. “The first half we were able to play with them and we had some chances we just were not able to put away.”
The 49ers didn’t score until the 40 minute of play when Yeraldy Hurtado nailed a shot into the left side of the net from 20 yards out. Midfielder Hayley Bolt scored again for LBSU in the 67th minute, sealing the 2-0 victory for the 49ers as they improved to 4-1 on the season.
Despite letting in two goals, Griffin made five saves on the night, two more than 49er goalkeeper Liz Ramos.
This match marks the eighth time these two schools have tangled as USU and LBSU competed frequently when USU was in the Big West Conference. The all-time series is 2-6 in favor of the 49ers.
The Aggies looked to redeem Friday’s loss when they took on Cal State Northridge on Sunday.
The Matadors scored in the 15th minute of play on a head shot by Tessa Binkley. The shot was setup by Devon Nizich, who fed the ball to Binkley from the corner.
Utah State looked to score in the 39th minute as forward Charity Weston took a penalty kick. Weston’s shot swung wide left, losing the biggest scoring attempt of the half.
The Aggies matched the Matadors shot for shot in the first half with six, and outshot them 6-5 in the second half. Despite a shooting advantage, the Aggies couldn’t prevent the ball from landing in the net again in the 72nd minute when Nizich scored off an assist.
Utah State remained scoreless until the 81st minute when senior forward Sierra Smith scored her first goal of the season. The goal came off a free kick feed from Lindsey Smart. The score is the third career goal for Smith.
The Aggies continued to apply late pressure on CSNU goalkeeper April Cline as Weston had two shots in the final minutes of play, but neither shot could find its way into the net.
“It was a disappointing match,” Cairns said. “We took a step backward today. We did not play smart enough and did not play to our talent.”
The Aggies are now 2-4 on the season. The team will get a week of rest before hosting No. 18-ranked Brigham Young University on Saturday, Sept. 16, at the Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field.