Utah State takes down La. Tech
The Utah State Aggies soccer team won their first Western Athletic Conference game thanks to the first goals of the season for Chanel Weddle and Lindsay Lauro.
Utah State beat Louisiana Tech 2-0 Sunday afternoon, recording the team’s third shutout of the season.
From the kickoff, the Aggies dominated possession by taking 18 shots in the first half and keeping the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters from even attempting a shot. The Lady Techsters didn’t get their first shot until the 64th minute.
The Aggies’ first goal came in the 34th minute when Charity Weston got the ball to Lindsay Lauro, who found the upper right corner of the net to give the Aggies the lead.
“Lauro hit a bomb,” Utah State Head Coach Heather Cairns said. “That was a wonderful play.”
For most of the rest of the game, the Aggie forwards managed to find the goalie on any shot that was near the goal until Chanel Weddle snuck one in after a nice service by KD Keller in the 89th minute.
“The one shot that didn’t go to the goalkeeper went in,” Cairns said. “Most of our shots were right to the goalkeeper. We made her job pretty easy.”
Having dominated the first half, the Aggies started to fall apart 10 minutes into the second half, getting sloppy with the ball. The Lady Techsters started to push the attack and got a free kick off another set play.
The shot off the kick hit the crossbar and bounced straight down before being cleared out by the Aggie defenders to stop, really, the only serious threat to the Aggies’ lead.
“Our experience playing the tougher teams [earlier in the season] helped us weather that,” Cairns said. “That comes with not putting away our chances in the first half. We got spooked a little bit and that shocked us into reality.”
The win for the Aggies was important in many ways.
Their first conference win puts them at the top of the conference to start the season and it gives the team confidence going on the road.
“We needed it,” Weddle said. “Our team has been a little unsure about what’s going on and it makes it so we have a chance in conference.”
“To start off with a win, you know you’re at the top of the leader board,” Cairns said. “You start off on the right foot because you want to get your business taken care of before the last weekend of games.”
That business is getting into the conference tournament since only six of the nine teams in the WAC will get to play in Boise, Idaho, the first weekend in November for the conference championship.
The next game for the Aggies will be at San Jose State next Saturday.
-krn@cc.usu.edu
Utah State´s Lacey Christenson dribbles the ball up the field during Sunday´s game against Louisiana Tech. The Aggies upset the Bulldogs 2-0.