AGGIES WIN against Texas Tech and SF Austin

The USU Women’s Soccer team won a landmark game on the road when they downed the Texas Tech Red Raiders 3-2 Friday night and continued their undefeated streak Sunday when the Aggies defeated Stephen F. Austin by the same score.

The wins came as four teams combined for a three day tournament in El Paso, Texas. Utah State (3-0-0) came out as the undisputed winner.

The two games contrasted greatly in the style of play and the way Utah State won each game. Utah State head coach Heather Cairns said she came out of the Stephen F. Austin very concerned about the team's current defensive ability to communicate and adjust to a dynamic offensive attack. She said she was pleased with the wins, as coaches always are, but also said that allowing such a high number of goals in two matches was humbling.

"We played well enough to win," Cairns said, "and we were extremely efficient in converting our chances on the offensive end, but we can't get used to giving up four goals in two games."

Despite the relative disorganization on defense, Utah State still managed to rally to defeat both of this weekend's quality opponents.

Even more remarkable than the fact that USU beat the first Big XII soccer opponent they had ever faced, Texas Tech, was the way they did it. Tech took an early lead, and shortly thereafter, USU railed off three goals in eight minutes to put the Aggies up for good. The Aggie defense held for over 60 minutes, and USU pulled off the win.

That match didn't start well though as Tech came out fighting. In the second minute of the match, USU trailed 1-0 after the Red Raiders capitalized on a very fast counterattack. Taylor

Lytle of Texas Tech was on the receiving end of a ball sent across by the Red Raiders Brittney Harrison, stuck a boot on it, and put it past USU keeper Molli Merrill.

“We didn’t expect them to put us under such pressure,” Cairns said of the first Tech goal. “Welcome to the Big XII. It was a great lesson for our team to come out and play from the start of the match.”

Lauren Hansen, who scored twice in the Tech match, said the first Red Raider goal woke the Aggies up.

“It was a shocker,” Hansen said. “It’s the first minute, and we’re already on our heels. It really woke us up and made us more angry than anything.”

Hansen said USU became that much more motivated to come back against the Red Raiders because of that goal. The equalizer came before long. In the 19th minute, Heather Pond threw the ball in after Tech had put it off the pitch. She sent it to an open Hansen who maneuvered around to the edge of the box and put a rocket above the goalie's head and into the back of the net.

“It was a perfect throw-in,” Hansen said. “I just took a couple of touches and took the shot. It was such a great relief, it really cleaned the slate and got us back into the match.”

Hansen wasn’t finished. In the 22nd minute, Allie Maduell brought the ball up the side and played it low to Hansen, who beat the offside trap. Hansen gathered the ball along the base line and snuck in a sweet shot past the Tech keeper to put the Aggies ahead 2-1 with 68 minutes to play against a the larger more physical Texas Tech squad.

Hansen said the team stayed determined to bring their "A game," and USU scoring continued. In the 27th minute, Shantel Flanary applied the pressure on a Tech defender. The defender couldn't stand the pressure and Flanary broke for the goal with the ball. Shortly thereafter, Utah State led 3-1. It was Flanary's second goal in as many matches.

Cairns said although USU managed to get up by two goals, she did not alter the style of play to be more defensive. She said the team was confident in its game plan, and wasn't looking to lock up the back line after taking the two-goal lead. Only one substitution was made in the back, and it was simply made to replenish the team and to put some fresh legs on defense.

In particular, Cairns said she was pleased with Natalie Norris, a freshman who has taken on a starting role replacing a four-year starter that graduated last year.

"She was marked with their best forward for the majority of the match," Cairns said of Norris. "She shut her down."

Cairns also said this year's starting keeper, Merrill, a sophomore who managed to get her first collegiate shutout last week against Northern Arizona, did well, despite Tech's final goal which came in the 73rd minute. Merrill bobbled a save and Red Raider Dawn Ward slipped right in to take advantage and punch in the rebound.

"It's the worst lead you can have, to be up by two goals," Hansen said. "It's easy to find yourself thinking, 'Oh, We've got this,' and then before you know it, they can be right back in it. It's only two goals to tie it."

"For those last twenty minutes, all of us had heartburn," Cairns said. "It was intense, they put us under a lot of pressure."

Cairns said the Red Raiders really fought against Utah State for the last twenty minutes of the match, trying to work their way back into it. On one play in particular, only Candice Salmon's alert mind and fast foot staved off the equalizer and kept the Aggies ahead. Tech sent a ball to the far post where two running Raiders were awaiting a cross that could have been easily poked into the back of a wide open goal. Salmon threw herself at the ball and managed to divert it enough with the end of her foot to break the play up and allow Merrill time to recover.

That, along with several other defensive plays, proved to be enough to put Utah State over the top. And then, USU faced the Stephen F Austin Ladyjacks.

In Sunday's match, USU turned the tables and scored on Stephen F. Austin in the first minute. Erin Salmon collected a ball about 25 yards from the goal and sent in a rocket that shot past the Ladyjack keeper, Courtney Baulder. It was the only goal scored in the first half by either team.

You would think by just looking at the score at the half, Utah State was more or less in control of the ball. Not so. Utah State was outshot 9-3 in the first period.

"No. Not at all," Cairns said when asked if Utah State was able to control the midfield. "They threw eight players up the field, and that really limited what we were able to do at all. We passed the ball to the purple team just as much as the white team."

Inefficiency on defense reared its head when Stephen F Austin scored again. Cairns said the second goal came in the 67th minute when Merrill and another defender miscommunicated and misplayed a ball that fell to Austin's Megan Cash, who put the ball into an empty net. Despite the miscue, Utah State never trailed, and led again in the 75th minute when Natalie Norris, the freshman fullback, scored for the first time in her collegiate career. Norris successfully redirected midfielder Stefani Shiozaki's corner kick off her head and into the goal.

The offensive spurt held. In the 81st minute, Utah State put in what Cairns called a "brilliant and fun to watch" goal. Lauren Hansen sent a long ball up the side of the field and into the corner. Chantel Flanary ran the ball down and controlled it near the flagstick. She then sent the ball across the box to Hansen, who made a 40-yard run to the far post. Hansen and Flanary connected perfectly, and Hansen put the ball into the back of the net.

With less than 10 minutes remaining, Austin didn't stand much of a chance to be able to catch up being down two goals, despite USU's relative inexperience on defense, but they did do some damage in the 87th minute when they scored again. It wasn't enough to take down the Aggies, and when the final whistle blew again, USU was still ahead.

Utah State comes home from this road trip with their best record to begin a season in Utah State Soccer History (3-0-0). Utah State will continue its very difficult non-conference schedule when it faces No. 21 Oklahoma State in Logan. Oklahoma State, in addition to the national ranking, boasts the 13th best RPI in the nation. The game will start at 7 p.m. at the USU soccer field behind the indoor football practice facility on campus.