USU Soccer beats Boise State to earn bid to Mountain West Tourney
LOGAN — Utah State Soccer knocked off Boise State 2-0 to earn a spot in the Mountain West Women’s Soccer Championship tournament. With the win on Senior Day, the Aggie seniors will have a chance to extend their careers during this postseason.
“Really happy for our team,” head coach Manny Martins said. “I think over the course of the last four games, I think they earned every bit of this opportunity to go into the tournament.”
The Aggies started off with a bang as they used high pressure to force a Bronco turnover, which launched a Utah State counter-attack. After a USU turnover, forward Jordan Foraker stole the ball and passed to forward Sammie Murdock who fired a shot from the far-side edge of the goalbox that sailed past Boise State goalkeeper Genevieve Crenshaw for a goal.
BANGERS ONLY!!!@sammie_murdock#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/oBXodo0pzc
— USU Soccer (@USUsoccer) October 27, 2022
“That one felt good, especially on Senior Day,” Murdock said. “I have to give all the credit to Jordan, another senior. She really came out there and helped me out.”
The goal gave Utah State a 1-0 lead just over 20 seconds into the game.
“It just showed a little bit of the energy and the mindset that the team came out with,” Martins said.
Utah State continued to dominate possession in the first half as they racked up nine shots with three on-goal. The Aggie defense led by center-back Kelsey Kaufusi limited the Broncos to five total shots, with three on-target that goalkeeper Diera Walton was able to deal with easily.
After the break, midfielder Rine Yonaha gave the Aggies an insurance goal on a one-timer shot from the top of the box in the 54th minute. It was Yonaha’s first goal of the season. Murdock and Kaufusi were credited with an assist.
Rine Yonaha with an absolute ROCKET#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/6Dibtevbcj
— USU Soccer (@USUsoccer) October 27, 2022
Yonaha said she felt like she needed to score to feel comfortable about making the tournament.
“And then I did,” Yonaha said, laughing.
Utah State added six more shots in the second half, bringing their game total to 16 compared to Boise State’s 10.
In the final 36 minutes, the Aggies played stellar defense led by center-back Addy Symonds to seal the deal. Walton also collected two more saves to bring her game total to five.
Walton said she feels good about USU’s chances in the tournament given their solid defense in the last few games.
“It’s just all about our mentality and energy going into games,” Walton said. “I just think it’s important to motivate everyone so we’re all on the same page. So proud of my team.”
For five Aggies, it was their final game at Chuck and Gloria Bell Field. They were honored with framed jerseys and applause before the match. Murdock, Foraker, forward Sara Taylor, goalkeeper Marren Nielson and forward-defender hybrid Kelsey Salvesen-Harmer also had their numbers painted on the pitch on the near sideline at midfield.
The moment was indescribable to Murdock.
“You can’t really describe the feeling of just everything in your life coming down to one game, one moment,” Murdock said. “I think that, at the end of the day, I just wanted to feel at peace and that’s exactly what I did. I felt at peace and I knew everything was going to work out the way it should if we were prepared and executed the gameplan.”
Murdock chose to use her extra year of eligibility from the coronavirus pandemic to play this season. She said she is glad she did.
“There’s literally nowhere else in the world I’d rather be than right here at Utah State,” Murdock said.
For Martins, the celebration was a bit emotional. He expressed his gratitude for those seniors buying into his philosophy when he took over as head coach.
“I’m so happy. I was a little bit emotional today,” Martins said. “These are kids that when I got here about 18 months ago, they embraced the ideas that we brought with us and everything we were trying to do. And in some ways, we made them uncomfortable. They could resist and instead, they embraced it… Every little bit of the reason where we are today is because of the leadership and them taking the step to run with what we brought them.”
Utah State will open the Mountain West tournament on Sunday in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
This story will be updated with who the Aggies will face.
Featured image by Claire Ott from the BYU game.