USU Soccer surges late to tie Grand Canyon 3-3
LOGAN — Utah State Soccer tied Grand Canyon 3-3 on Sunday to keep their undefeated season alive. If the Aggies reamin unbeaten on Thursday, they will be undefeated five games in for the third time since 2013.
Just four minutes into the game the Aggies got hot. A goal from forward Sara Taylor, her second of the season and 14th of her career, came via a feed from midfielder Rine Yonaha nearly at the midline, putting the Aggies up 1-0 early.
37 minutes of soccer went by without much action, but the Antelopes fixed that with a goal from GCU’s Magdalena Schwarz.
The goal didn’t stop the Aggies from having the lead for long. 58 seconds later, a beautiful feed from defender Kylie Olsen to forward London Miller extinguished the Grand Canyon equalizer. The goal was Miller’s first in an Aggie uniform and suddenly it was 2-1 Aggies heading into the half.
“Impressive, but not surprising at all,” head coach Manny Martins said. “If you watch London she is a special player with a special talent and incredible heart. We aren’t surprised she was able to affect the game.”
Miller finished with four shots, leading the team, with a goal and an assist.
“It felt so good,” Miller said on her first goal with Utah State. “I have been waiting for this moment.”
Despite not playing in the first half, goalkeeper Diera Walton took over the box in the second half.
“Diera has been our number one, she has been recovering from a little knock that she had. She is still getting back, but Marren (Nielson) (is) playing great,” Martins said. “This was part of a plan, had nothing to do with the game, we knew we were going to make that change.”
The Antelopes tied it in the 52nd minute on an error by Walton when a GCU attacker pressured her and a deflection by an Antelope ended up in the net.
Utah State needed a response to continue their undefeated streak, but unfortunately for the Aggies their trial got harder.
The Antelopes were awarded a penalty kick in the 55th minute of the contest and converted, giving Walton her second allowed goal of the match and the season just 10 minutes into her appearance.
The Aggies nearly tied it in the 74th minute as Sara Taylor sent a ball from the right side of the box just wide of the left post.
Four minutes later, the Aggies got their breakthrough. Miller showed off some impressive footwork by crossing a defending Antelope and spinning through the defense to set up an attacking opportunity for the Aggies.
“Since I was little my dad has had me juggling every single night and working on my footwork,” Miller said. “The technical part of the game with my footwork is part of my game.”
After Miller set up the offense, the Aggies were able to get the ball to defender Talia Winder who sent a well-placed pass from nearly 30 yards out to diving forward Sammie Murdock who headed it in to tie the game. It was Murdock’s second goal of the season and eighth of her career.
With 20 seconds left to play, Taylor got the ball and fired from three feet out but an impressive save from the Antelope goalkeeper, Jordan Ferguson, ended the game at 3-3.
An alarming stat from the match was the Aggies’ foul total. With 17 fouls to the Antelopes six, it put more pressure on the Aggies with their playstyle.
“We are aggressive but it’s still early in the season. Nothing egregious and nobody is getting hurt — it’s just part of the game,” Martins said.
With the new NCAA rule eliminating overtime in the regular season, Utah State did not get a chance to win after regulation, moving their record to 3-0-2 on the season.
Utah State will take on UC Riverside in California on Thursday and won’t return to Logan until Sept. 15 to face BYU. Between the Highlanders and Cougars, the Aggies will travel to Austin, Texas to face the Texas Longhorns on Sept. 8, and then take a short road trip to Salt Lake City to battle the Utah Utes on Sept. 11.
Featured image by Bailey Rigby.