Women’s soccer struggles in California road-trip, looks to rebound
Utah State’s women’s soccer team battled hard this weekend as goalkeeper Ashlyn Mulford earned her first collegiate shutout in just her second start in a 0-0 draw at UC-Riverside Sunday.
Mulford, a 5’5″ keeper out of Cyprus High School, started the last two matches on the Aggies’ California road trip, which saw the team play Loyola Marymount and UC-Riverside. Utah State lost 2-0 against Louola Marylmount on Friday before squaring off with UC-Riverside on Sunday.
During Friday’s loss to Loyola Marymount, Mulford made her first career start, making five saves. Freshman midfielder Kendra Pemberton had three shots during the loss, while junior forward Shantel Flanery had a shot on goal.The Lions had 14 total shots in their win, and received a goal from Tawni Martino on a header and a 15-yard shot by Julie Gallaudet.
Against the Highlanders, Mulford saved three shots, coming up big on passes crossed into the box according to head coach Heather Cairns.
“She was really strong on corners (hit into) the box,” Cairns said. “It was good for her to get her first shutout.”
The Highlanders did everything they could to get the ball past Mulford and into the net, as two different shots hit the crossbar and bounced harmlessly out of play. Mulford is expected to start until junior keeper Molli Merrill recovers from injury and is is currently listed as “day-to-day” on the injury report.
The Aggie offense got off to a quick start against UC-Riverside, firing off three shots in the first five and a half minutes of the game, but were unable to capitalize.
Senior striker Lauren Hansen had an opportunity to score when she came down the left flank for a shot. The ball deflected off Highlander keeper Jessica White’s heel towards the goal, but was cleared off the line by Riverside defender Ciara Hilpert, robbing the 2008 WAC all-tournament team member of the winning goal.
The Aggies out-shot the Highlanders by a margin of 20-16, but many were longer shots coming from outside the 18-yard box. Cairns said she was unhappy with the quality with which her offense executed.
“Our attack struggled,” said Cairns. “The crosses we had didn’t have enough quality in the box to finish them off. When you have 20-something shots you expect to score on a 1 to 10 ratio.”
On the opposite bench, Riverside head coach Veronica O’Brien was pleased with the way the 1-6-1 Highlanders performed.
“I thought we played well. Overall, give our team credit,” she said. “We played a solid opponent that beat a top team in our conference (Long Beach State) last weekend.”
UC-Riverside’s only goal so far of this season came from Melisa Escamilla in the team’s only win, on the road at Texas State.
“For us to at least get the draw, that’s a step forward for us today,” O’Brien said.
Hansen led the offensive effort for the Aggies with seven shots, four of which were on goal in the 84 minutes she played. In the first half alone, USU placed 12 shots. The Aggies had seven total shots on goal, but all were turned away by White, Big West conference leader in saves. Five of the UCR keeper’s saves came in the first half. White now has 48 saves on the season.
UC-Riverside committed 15 fouls, compared to Utah State’s six. UCR also earned more corner kicks than the visiting side, 9-6. The draw brings USU’s record to 3-2-4, which Cairns, who is the winningest soccer coach in school history, said is disappointing.
“We had a lot of heart today, but X’s and O’s were not where we wanted them to be,” said Cairns. “We just weren’t as sharp as we needed to be.”
The Aggies have a chance to start another winning streak as they face two in-state rivals this week. They will travel to Salt Lake to face Utah (1-9-0) on Thursday evening and will host No. 9 BYU (8-0-1) on Saturday at 4 p.m.
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu