USU women’s soccer dominates in regular season final
After struggling on the road during conference play, the Utah State women’s soccer team ended their regular season with a bang. The Aggies headed north to Idaho to take on the Boise State Broncos, winning easily by a 6-1 score.
The first half saw an Aggie lead of 1-0. In the 12th minute, junior forward Wesley Hamblin found a pass from fellow forward Bailee Hammond, leading Hamblin to a 10 ft. goal. It was Hamblin’s seventh goal on the season.
The remainder of the first half was relatively quiet, gearing for the storm that would start in the first minute of the second half.
49 seconds into the second half, Hamblin felt the need to return the favor to Hammond, as Hamblin fed a ball into the box, setting Hammond up with a shot right in front of the net. Hammond placed it in without much opposition, bolstering the Aggie lead 2-0, earning her fourth of the year.
The next goal came just over ten minutes later, when freshman defender Mealii Enos found herself in the right spot from a corner sent in by senior forward Jessica Brooksby. The goal was special for both passer and scorer: it was Brooksby’s 55th assist, tying her for the Utah State record, and for Enos, it was her first collegiate goal.
Corners would come back to haunt the Broncos, coming in the 75th minute. Freshman midfielder Kanyan Ward crossed the ball in, and the ball seemed to bounce around both Aggie and Bronco cleats. Amidst the confusion, the ball took and Aggie roll and found itself crossing the goal line. The goal was scored as an own goal. Aggies up 4-0.
The final ten minutes of the match saw three goals, two of them for Utah State. Freshman forward earned her fifth goal of the year after she came screaming into the box and was fed by Ward. The Broncos would score next, as Boise State’s Falon Miller caught the goalie off-guard and netted the lone goal for her squad. Sophomore defender Emma Clark would end the game and the regular season with a goal in the final minute of play. Clark stole the ball away from the Broncos’ players and earned an unassisted goal.
Up next for the Aggies is the Mountain West Conference Tournament, taking place in San Diego, California. Utah State earned fourth place out of eight, and is slated to take on Wyoming in the first round. The Aggies had been tied for third in the standings, but lost the tiebreaker to San Diego State. This is the highest ranking the Aggies have earned since joining the MW.
Earlier this year, Utah State defeated Wyoming by a score of 3-0 when the Aggies hosted the Cowgirls in Logan.
The match will take place on Tuesday at 5 p.m. and will be available to watch on the Mountain West Network.