USU women blank SUU in soccer exhibition
The Utah State women’s soccer team opened the season with a 7-0 shutout over Southern Utah University Saturday in an exhibition game at Tower Field.
“It’s always good to have a win, whether it’s a scrimmage or not,” first-year head coach, Jen Kennedy Croft said. “It’s nice to see them (the balls) hitting the back of the net,” she said.
The Aggies had five different players who scored goals, including junior Michelle Eversman and sophomore Amber Tracy who each contributed two goals a piece.
“We’re really happy,” Eversman said. “We just wanted to come out and play our hardest.”
Scoring began early for the Aggies as junior Brigid Turner knocked the ball into the net from 20 feet out just two minutes into the game. USU scored again six minutes later with an unassisted goal from Eversman. This gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead which would remain through the first half of play.
Less than two minutes into the second half, the Aggies scored again as junior Jessica Ebner found the back of the net off a pass from Sara Buie Cowley.
Cowley then went on to score a goal of her own three minutes later from 20 yards out.
Minutes later, Eversman scored her second goal of the game, the fifth Aggie goal, sealing the victory for Utah State.
Following Eversman’s goal, Tracy then pitched in two goals to finish off the game. The first came off a pass from Maureen Dyslin and then Tracy scored an unassisted goal from 15 feet out.
“It’s good to seeus as a chohesive unit and we’re excited we played well together as a team,” Croft said. “We played good team defense and created some opportunities with out defense.
Not only did the Aggies keep the Thunderbirds scoreless throughout the 90 minutes of play, Utah State also out shot Southern Utah 26-5.
“Southern is a new team, so you have to take that with a little bit of consideration,” Croft said. “We really wanted the shutout.”
The Thunderbirds began their first year of competition splitting their exhibition games with a 1-0 victory at home over Mesa State and the loss on the road to USU.
SUU is one of seven first-year soccer programs including UC Riverside, Akron, Binghamton, The Citadel, Rice and Western Kentucky.
The Aggies will begin regular season play next weekend as they host Northwestern on Aug. 31 at 4 p.m. and then 10th-ranked Washington on Sept. 1 at 1 p.m. Both games will be played at Tower Field.