Women’s soccer ranked third two weeks from tournament

After splitting a pair of games against the top two teams in the Mountain West Conference over the weekend, Utah State women’s soccer heads into its final two weeks of regular season games with the annual Mountain West tournament in San Diego fast approaching.

The Aggies are currently tied with Colorado College for third in the conference with a divisional record of 5-2-1, while San Diego State and Wyoming lead the conference with 7-1 records.

USU has reason to be hopeful for the upcoming tournament after a weekend against some of the division’s toughest opponents. The Aggies lost 2-1 Saturday to the then unbeaten Aztecs, despite a flurry of action to end the match.

“We started off really competitive,” said USU head coach Heather Cairns, “but it took us a little too long to turn the attack on. Once we did, we got the goal and had a few chances to tie it. We needed to put 90 good minutes together because San Diego State is a really good team.”

The game ended what had been a season-best four-game hot streak for coach Cairns and the Aggies, who rebounded Sunday against a formidable New Mexico squad, winning 2-0.

Sophomore forward Jessica Brooksby and senior defender Taryn Rose each scored within the first 8 minutes of the match to put USU up early. Despite the Lobos out-shooting USU 9-5, the Aggies posted their seventh shutout of the season.

Utah State faces its next opponent, visiting UNLV, on Friday, Oct. 24 at 3 p.m. The Rebels recently snapped a three-game losing skid, winning on the road at Air Force 2-0.

The Aggies play their final home game of the year against 1-7-0 Nevada on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 1 p.m. for Senior Day.

USU’s season ends on the road in Boise against the only team in the conference to deal SDSU a loss, beating the Aztecs 2-0 despite drawing three yellow cards in the match.