Wolverines roll past Utah State Aggies
UVU women’s soccer team rolled past the Utah State Aggies 3-0 Saturday afternoon in one of their final spring games this year.
The Aggies came out flying at the beginning of the game, having some good looks on goal and forcing freshman goalkeeper Danielle Orr to come off her line a couple times to stuff out the Utah State attack.
The Wolverines, however, weathered the early storm and scored in the 20th minute to take the lead. Senior Sara Callister scored when the ball fell to her feet in the goalbox after the first initial shot by UVU deflected off a defender. Just three minutes later, the Wolverines added another goal after a Utah State defender turned over the ball deep in the Aggies’ defensive third with freshman Sadie Brockbank pouncing on the error, blasting a shot outside the eighteen past Utah State’s goalkeeper to make it 2-0.
In the 29th minute, freshman Julianna Carter, after a couple UVU shots were blocked by defenders and the ball fell out wide to her (who was unmarked), ripped a shot in to make the score 3-0. The Wolverines survived a defensive scare in the 35th minute when a UVU defender slipped as she made a back pass to her goalkeeper, allowing Utah State to break one on one. Orr came off her line and made a double save to keep the shutout. In the corner kick right after Orr’s double save, she made another save when the ball deflected and fell to an Aggie attacker at the top of the eighteen who shot it on goal.
“We came out slow and flat. They seemed to have more possession and opportunities, but once we got the first goal it was like a shot of adrenaline and we were able to score twice. To be up 3 to 0 at halftime I was very pleased,” said Utah Valley head coach Chris Lemay.
In the second half, the Wolverines fed off the momentum from the first half, kept up the pressure on the Aggies creating a number of half chances, but not real threatening. In the 59th minute, Utah State got a rare shot off a good attack, but Orr got a hand to it and was able to direct the ball out for a corner. Later in the match, on an Aggie free kick in the center of the field, a Utah state player was shown straight red for a push on Brockbank after a the first initial foul by UVU, putting Utah State down to ten women.
In the dying minutes of the game, Utah State freshman Macy Martinez broke through UVU’s defense, dribbling the ball in the goalbox to get a good angle to shoot around Orr, but Orr pounced on ball to stop the attack.
Photo courtesy of UVU Athletics