Women’s soccer falls to Utah despite impressive saves

Photo courtesy of USU Athletics

SALT LAKE CITY — Freshman goalkeeper Diera Walton clapped her hands together three times and readied herself for the penalty kick. It was the 90th minute of the game. Every eye in the stadium was on her.

“I was just thinking, ‘I got this ball. I got this ball,’” Walton said. “So I’m gonna go get it.”

As the ball rocketed toward the goal, the freshman goalkeeper jumped and snagged it out of the air. It was one of six saves Walton recorded in the game.

“She had a lot of bright spots tonight,” head coach Heather Cairns said.

But even with those bright spots, the Utah State University women’s soccer team came up short in Friday night’s 3-0 loss to the University of Utah Utes on Aug. 30. 

After a slow start left the Aggies down 2-0 at halftime, the team was unable to battle back.

“We took too long to find our legs,” Cairns said. “And a team like Utah is gonna make us pay for that.”

The second half showed a much more aggressive Utah State team. However, even with more possession time and harder attacks, USU still couldn’t seem to get a shot off.

The Aggies came away with four total shots and two on goal. Utah had 20 total shots and nine on goal.

“They had a ton of people in the box,” Cairns said. “So it was particularly hard to get shots off… they were very good at getting a lot of numbers around the ball.”

The defeat leaves the Aggies with a record of 1-2-0.

Shooting was something the Aggies also struggled with against the University of South Dakota on Aug. 25. Though USU came away with a win, the team only recorded four total shots and one on goal.

“We need to just work on finding those little slots in the box,” freshman forward Sid Barlow said. “And we can get them.”

Barlow, another freshman, recorded two of the Aggies’ four shots against the Utes. She remains hopeful about the future.

“We worked hard and we had some looks,” Barlow said. “If we can just work to put them away early in the game and we’ll have a strong start — then I feel like we can carry that through the rest of the game.”

Up next, Utah State will take on Weber State at home Sep. 4. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.