USU soccer clinches WAC championship after regular season, tournament wins
The Utah State women’s soccer team are back-to-back Western Athletic Conference champions. USU took on Denver in a No.-1-versus-No.-2 matchup on Sunday afternoon at Chuck and Gloria Bell Field and survived the nail-biter 1-0.
“That was just awesome to win that on our home field with so many fans,” USU head coach Heather Cairns said. “The fans were incredible today. We made that early goal stick and I thought both teams after that had chances to score. We were just lucky we kept them off the board, and we kept pushing for that second but it didn’t matter today.”
Sunday’s game was the second time these two teams met this season. The first came on Sept. 30 in Denver when the Aggies and Pioneers battled to a 0-0 draw. Denver was ranked 18th in the nation at the time.
It was a highly anticipated game between the top two teams in the WAC and one of the best matchups in recent history. USU and Denver split the regular season title with each team finishing 6-0-2 in conference play.
With the win, the Aggies won their second-consecutive WAC title and clinched a berth in the NCAA Tournament later this month.
“As soon as we took that first NCAA trip last year, our goal was to go to the NCAA again,” defender Natalie Norris said. “We never looked back from that. We always want to progress as a program and as a team, so that was our goal for the year.”
Five Aggie players were named to the WAC All-Tournament Team. Senior defender Natalie Norris took home MVP honors. Fellow defensive players in sophomore Taryn Rose, junior Jackie Tillotson and senior goalkeeper Ashlyn Mulford were also honored. Junior Jennifer Flynn was the only Aggie midfielder or striker who made the All-Tournament Team.
The Aggies came into the game riding a seven-game winning streak. The Pioneers hadn’t lost a game since dropping their first in the season opener against Colorado College. Denver also had the reigning WAC Player of the Year in Kirsten Hamilton and Coach of the Year Jeff Hooker.
The Aggies got off to a hot start when they were able to take the lead with less than five minutes played. Junior Kendra Pemberton crossed the ball into the box in the direction of a sprinting Flynn. The Denver defense intercepted the ball, but a bad touch by the defender put the ball into the back of the net.
USU led 1-0 in the third minute off an own goal and would hold onto the lead for the remainder of the game.
“Kendra took an amazing run down the line, crossed it over and Jen Flynn was there to pressure it, and the defender just took a mistouch,” Norris said. “I feel so bad for that goalie. I would hate to be in her shoes. They played an amazing game other than that, but we put the pressure on and were able to get that one goal and that’s all it took.”
Denver was the more aggressive team in the first half, putting pressure on the Aggie defense on multiple occasions. Each time, the USU defense answered the bell.
“They showed a lot of heart today,” Cairns said. “Denver had the ball at their feet in dangerous areas and our girls just kept plugging away and got it done today.”
USU had a chance to double its lead in the 30th minute, but sophomore Lexi Morgan’s shot went wide of the post into the side netting.
A few minutes later, Morgan was taken down near midfield and had to be helped off the pitch by the USU medical staff. Morgan did not return to the game.
Although Denver had possession for much of the half, the two teams went into the break with four shots apiece and one on goal. The teams also split two corners apiece.
The second half began with Denver coming out strong and attacking the USU defense, but they held their ground.
The Pioneers looked as if they would tie the game in the 55th minute, but Tillotson was at the right place at the right time. After an incomplete save by Mulford, Denver got the ball and struck it toward goal. The ball deflected off a player and Tillotson was near the goal line to clear it out.
“This is super exciting for me,” Tillotson said. “I was in the right place at the right time. Obviously without my team I couldn’t have done it. They had some awesome clearances and I was just lucky to be there.”
Trying to get the equalizer, Denver continued its onslaught of shots but the Aggie defense would not budge. The Aggies made the most of their opportunities when they got the ball on the counter attack. Flynn had a couple shots on goal, but Denver’s Lara Campbell was there for the save.
“We did have some opportunities on counter attacks that we didn’t quite put away,” Cairns said. “I really thought whoever scored that second goal was going to take that away, but that is the beauty of soccer that sometimes it comes down to just one play.”
The final 20 minutes of the match became intense as Denver threw everything they had at the Aggies. USU flexed their muscles on defense behind the play of Norris, Rose and Tillotson.
In the final 16 seconds, Denver had a corner kick where they sent every player into the box. The Aggies cleared the corner and took off with the ball down the field to kill of the remaining seconds off the clock.
“The win today was super fun, obviously,” Tillotson said. “Denver is a really great team. You have to give it up for them, they gave us a hard win. The team just played really well today. I think we played together and we have a solid backline.”
The Denver players went home with their first loss in more than two months. The Aggies’ record going into the NCAA tournament stands at 13-2-6.
USU will face BYU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Nov. 9 in Provo.
– jborba@aggiemail.usu.edu Twitter: @JBorba15