USU pounced by WC and Colorado
Westminster 20, USU 3
Frustration boiled over at times on the Aggie sideline as USU, back on the field after a two-week rest, dropped its game to a lower-division power, the Westminster Griffons.
A despondent Coach Matt Polytyka said his young team “made [Westminster] look better than they are.”
The visiting Griffons scored quickly in the first quarter, peppering USU goalie Jackson Evans.
“They had 12 shots and nine goals,” Polytyka said. “We didn’t get any stops there on the defensive end in the first quarter. Our freshman goalie didn’t play too well. He didn’t make a lot of saves. It seemed like every shot they took went in.”
USU started to play in the second quarter, converting a couple of ground balls into goals by Steve Hughes (2) and Lance Weeks (1). Weeks picked up a loose ball and charged the better part of the length of the field right to Colorado’s net before scoring unassisted.
“The offensive movement was better,” Polytyka said of the second quarter.
Unfortunately USU was giving up five goals to Westminster at the same time they were showing signs of life on offense, and went into halftime down by 11.
In the second half, Westminster’s superior team depth showed as they possessed the ball and scored six more goals on Raymond with a methodical barrage.
One brief enlivenment to the dull afternoon under the hot sun was provided by Kyle Pearson of the Aggies, who earned a fighting ejection penalty in the third quarter.
After taking a hard late hit, Pearson decided to put his high school wrestling knowledge to good use.
“He hit me late and it pissed me off,” Pearson explained. “I never tried to punch him. I’ve never punched anyone in my life. All I did was take him down.”
USU’s midfield star Kent “Doughnut” Arnold, who was recognized with two fighting ejections himself last year, showed that he has turned over a new leaf by helping to break up the fight Pearson started.
Last year Arnold was sent off against Montana State and Utah but it appears Marine Corps boot camp has taught the explosive goal-scorer some restraint. Arnold was credited with an assist in the game.
“Outrun, on all sides of the ball, especially on the defensive end,” was how Polytyka summed up the lackluster showing by the Aggies.
Colorado 17, USU 3
Facing a heavyweight contender for the national championship in Colorado, USU fought gamely against the superior team in a steady rain.
Midfielder Brian Miller, who scored on the Buffaloes twice, said he was “happy” because the team “had a positive attitude. We had a pretty poor effort yesterday. We got beat pretty bad but we held it together as a team and played as a team for the whole game,” he said.
Polytyka echoed Miller in summing up the one-sided beating of USU: “The team played better even though we were missing five guys. Better play out of the goalie, better play out of the D, all around better play against an even better team,” he said.
Polytyka said the score was about what he had expected “given the number of legs they had to our number of legs. They had 30 subs and we have five. All these guys played hard.”
Colorado was coming off a close loss to BYU in Provo the night before, which was televised on KBYU.
Polytyka, who has coached USU in losses to both schools, said, “They’re a top-five team in the nation just like BYU. We play the hardest teams in the nation and it’s hard for us to get those wins.”
Mercifully, there was less of the self-defeating “poor me” nonsense this time on USU’s sideline.
“Morale is better even though we are still getting beat,” Polytyka. “We were in the game until the end of the first quarter.”
The coach predicted a win next Saturday on the HPER field at 1 p.m.
“We’re playing Wyoming next week,” Polytyka said. “That’s a game we can win. They’re in a lower division than us. We should win. Coming from playing the top five in the nation to a team like Wyoming we should get a win.”
-graham@cc.usu.edu