Know thy enemy: A preview of the week in UVU sports
Photo by Julie Ostler
Homecoming week at Utah Valley University will see six games played on campus among the volleyball team and men and women’s soccer teams.
After a slow start to the season the volleyball team bounced back at home by sweeping the Wolverine Invitational. UVU will look to capitalize on home court advantage again during the upcoming week as the Wolverines will host three opponents at the UCCU Center. UVU will play in-state rival Utah State on Sept. 13. The Aggies are led by Lauren Anderson, who was recently named to the all-tournament team at the Pioneer Invitational. The Wolverines will stay home to participate in the UVU/BYU Challenge on Sept. 16-17. In the weekend tournament, which takes place at the UCCU Center, UVU will face the UNLV Rebels on Sept. 16 and the Cal State Northridge Matadors on Sept. 17. The Rebels
Melanie Ostler and the women’s soccer team intend to rise to the occasion for Homecoming against Utah. Photo courtesy Arizona Daily Wildcat/Alex McIntyre
beat WAC preseason favorite New Mexico State earlier this year and have begun to garner national attention after a hot start to the season. The Matadors, who were recently swept by UNLV, will rely heavily on outside hitter Julie Haake.
The men’s soccer team plays two games at Clyde Field this weekend. The first match comes Thursday at 5 p.m. MT against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Wolverines are 2-0 all-time against the Bulldogs with the latest match coming during the 2015 season in Spokane, Wash. in a 1-0 UVU victory. Four games into the season, the Bulldogs (3-0-1) are unbeaten and yet to be shutout. Gonzaga tallied a 4-2 statement win over the Seattle U Redhawks. The second match of the weekend comes Saturday at 7 p.m. MT against the Cal State-Northridge Matadors, who are playing their first visit to Clyde Field. The Matadors (2-1-0) are led by Nicholas Grinde, who has scored three goals through three games.
The women’s soccer team hosts the University of Utah Friday at Clyde Field, kickoff will be at 7 p.m. MT. The last time these two teams faced off, Utah came away with a decisive 4-0 win over UVU in Salt Lake City. Things have changed since then as UVU is looking to put away the painful loss and show Utah what they are really made of. This game will be very evenly matched, with UVU and Utah both averaging two goals per game. If this game comes down to the wire, UVU will have the advantage over Utah with a total of 23 saves to the Utes’ eight.
Reporting by: Brad Curnow, David Roura, Devin Olsen
I’m a Pacific Northwest guy who loves his Pacific Northwest sports. An amateur movie buff who prefers the disc to digital. Chasing the sports writing dream while I geek out on Assassin’s Creed.