Utah State University downs Utah Valley in Sunday afternoon match.
Coming off the road the Utah Valley women’s soccer team had a win and a loss under their belt along with a season opener win at home against UTEP. UVU came back home again on Sunday afternoon for a match against in-state rival Utah State where the Wolverines fell to the Aggies 1-2 in overtime.
“Utah State, they’re a very good team and we knew they would be a tough team here,” said head coach Brent Anderson. “They just came off a loss and we knew they would be very motivated.”
Within the first 10 minutes of the game Utah Valley appeared to control the ball and limit the Aggies from overtaking their territory. Utah Valley also showed strong defense at first as Utah State’s Jade Tarver possessed the ball and had a clean look at the goal at one point but UVU’s Lexi Dunn defense allowed a turnover in the Wolverines favor.
Utah Valley slowly started to lose the rythem in the first half allowing Tarver to score the first goal of the game in the right corner past goalkeeper Jessica Duffin who played the full 95 minutes. The goal was off an assist from Kendra Pemberton at the 27 minute mark.
“I think the first half we didn’t play particularly well,” said Anderson. “We didn’t have much of a rhythm.”
Throughout the rest of the first half, the Aggies controlled the game and ended the half with four SOG and 7 shot attempts.
Coming into the second half, the Wolverines were down 0-1 as they started to limit more opportunities from Utah State. The Aggies attempted shots but UVU’s defense kept them from capitalizing.
“I thought overall we did a very good job at limiting them,” said Anderson. “They are dangerous and had some dangerous plays.”
The momentum eventually led the Wolverines to a goal at the 77 minute mark. A high lob from senior Regan Benson went past Utah State’s goalkeeper Ashlyn Mulford to tie the game 1-1.
The tie remained as the regular 90 minutes of game time drew to a close. Officials put the game into overtime with two 10 minute halves where the first team to score would take home the victory.
Utah State finally took the victory only five minutes into overtime when Pemberton’s 55-yard kick led to the goal to put the Aggies 2-1.
“The second half we created a few more opportunities and we finally got a goal,” said Anderson. “But man, we keep loosing games in the very last second or the last minute in overtime. We got to figure that out…I’ve got to figure that out and prepare them a little bit better for that.”
Utah Valley’s record stands at 1-3-0 as of Sunday night. They will look to improve that record on the road as they take on two more in-state rivals at Weber State and Southern Utah.