Women’s soccer faced disappointed weekend
The Utah State women’s soccer team opened their regular season with a busy Labor Day weekend.
The Aggies played two physical games on Friday and Saturday, falling to both Northwestern University and the University of Washington. Both of the challenging teams had an incredible amount of size and speed, creating a physically demanding weekend for the Aggies.
Although starting their regular season 0-2, head coach Jen Kennedy Croft is still positive.
“We feel good about our efforts overall. I think it’s OK to start 0-2, as long as we learn from this and can come back hard,” Croft said.
Utah State vs. Washington
The Aggies hosted University of Washington on Saturday at Tower Field. Despite a valiant effort, USU was defeated 4-1 by the Huskies.
Washington sophomore Jaime Carstensen scored two consecutive goals, ousting the first only 10 minutes into the first half and scoring the second about 12 minutes later.
Not even one minute went by before Carstensen came back assisting senior Caroline Putz in posting the third goal for the Huskies.
Washington native, freshman Claire Schend, scored the lone goal on behalf of USU with 10 minutes to go in the first half.
“I knew [goalkeeper] Hope Solo actually. I was excited to play, and it was kind of my goal to score on her, and it worked,” Schend said.
The Huskies finished out the first half with a goal from senior Gina Brewer, assisted by Kelley Schweighart with six minutes left in the half.
The second half played out a little better for the Aggies as they held Washington back but failed to score any goals themselves.
“We scored against a national team keeper, so we feel good they didn’t shut us out,” Croft said. “We had a 0-0 [second] half, so we’re pleased with that. They [Washington] were obviously fatigued in the second half. They looked as tired as we did, and we played a game the day before.”
Utah State vs. Northwestern
It’s no surprise the Aggies were tired on Saturday as they had a challenging game on Friday, losing to the Northwestern Wildcats 2-1.
The extremely physical game drew 22 fouls for the Wildcats, while the Aggies racked up 16.
Three USU players and one Washington player were cited with yellow caution cards during the second half. In addition to all the fouls, Jessica Ebner was injured in the first half, taking her out for the weekend with a sprained ankle.
Northwestern took 13 shots throughout the game – keeping goalkeeper Tracy Brady occupied posting 11 saves.
Wildcat seniors Katie Hertz and Enyo Dzata both scored goals in the first half of the game.
After halftime, Amber Tracy knocked in USU’s first and only goal two minutes into the second half with assistance from junior Michelle Eversman.
“I’m not displeased with our defensive effort at all,” Croft said. “Our three backline played excellent. Tracy Brady had a great game, and they all communicated really well.”
The Wildcats had huge height advantages. More than half the team measured 5’7″ or taller, while only seven of the Aggies even hit the 5’7″ mark.
“They [Northwestern] are so physical and their height is so overwhelming. That’s where we kind of lost it,” Croft said.
The Aggies will have an opportunity to improve their record when they travel to Reno, Nev., to face the University of Nevada on Friday for its first road game of the season.
Nevada finished the 2000 season with a record of 4-13-0 and was 0-7-0 in the Western Athletic Conference.