Women’s soccer falls to Montana
The Utah State soccer team lost and tied two overtime games over the weekend at the Montana Nike Cup in Missoula, Mont.
Sunday afternoon the Aggies lost to the University of Montana in the first overtime period. The Grizzlies scored off a short corner when the Aggie defense pushed up and left an opening for three Montana players in front of the goal. Montana’s Lindsay Winans put the ball in the net to give Montana the 2-1 win.
“We were all over them the second half,” Utah State Head Coach Heather Cairns said. “We had the flow but the stats didn’t show that with the six corner kicks [for Montana].”
It was big for someone else to score to take pressure off of Peart, Cairns said.
Teams were double and triple teaming Peart this weekend and she can’t score every goal.
The Aggies had tied the score in the second half in the 78th minute when Candice Clark beat the Grizzly goalie one-on-one. Lindsey Nuttall assisted on the play.
Clark is the first Aggie to score other than Dana Peart this season.
Montana scored in the 25th minute off a free kick to take the early lead which they held for over 50 minutes.
The Grizzlies outshot the Ags 18 to 11 with Rachelle Dixon, Charity Weston and Clark all taking three shots for the game. Utah State didn’t get a shot off in overtime.
On Friday afternoon the Aggies tied Air Force 0-0 with both teams failing to score through the two halves and the two overtime periods. The Aggies took 19 shots to the Falcons’ six.
Lisa Willardson got the start for the Aggies as Kelli Allred was still recovering from a concussion suffered in Monday’s game against BYU. Willardson promptly recorded the first shutout of the season, needing just one save to keep the Falcons scoreless.
Cairns said Willardson made the most of her opportunity, her lone save was crucial as it was off a set piece and kept the game tied.
Four Aggies had at least three shots even though none of them found the goal. Peart had four shots with Weston, Dixon and KD Keller taking three each.
“Our attack in general was the problem,” Cairns said of the tie with Air Force. “We had worked on defense this week and that went well for us, but we didn’t remember the attacking stuff.”
Senior Chanel Weddle returned to the playing field after not being able to play in any previous games because of a leg injury. Weddle managed to get one shot off in the first half. Allred was in the goal for the Aggies on Sunday and didn’t have any problems related to her concussion.
The Aggies will continue to look for their first win this week as they play two home games. On Thursday at 4 p.m., the Aggies take on San Francisco. On Saturday, the Ags will play Idaho State at 1 p.m.
-krn@cc.usu.edu