USU Women’s Soccer Off To Program-Best Start With 2-1 Win Over Northern Colorado Sunday

GREELEY, Colo. – With a 2-1 win over Northern Colorado on Sunday, the Utah State women’s soccer team made history, improving to 4-0-0 for the first time in school history. The previous best start for the Aggies was a 3-0-0 start in 2009. With the loss, Northern Colorado falls to 0-3-1. With the win against the Bears, USU improves to 3-0-0 against the Big Sky Conference this season. USU also has victories over Weber State and Portland State. Forward Shantel Flanary continued her hot streak to open her senior season, scoring in her fourth-straight match. She is now fourth in the Utah State record books in goals scored with 29. She is eight away from tying former teammate Lauren Hansen for the top spot with 37. Flanary is also for second in career assists with 12, tied with Charity Weston (2003-06). Former Aggie great Lindsey Smart (2006-09) is the all-time assist leader with 15. Flanary and the Aggies wasted no time getting on the board, scoring in the fifth minute of the match. The goal was the Aggies’ first in the first half this season for USU. Flanary scored her fourth goal of the season off of a pass from sophomore midfielder Kendra Pemberton. The sophomore has been hot of late with three assists in the first four matches. The first half ended with Utah State holding onto the 1-0 advantage. In the first 45 minutes, USU out-shot UNC, 8-3, with a 2-1 advantage in corner kicks. In the second half, both teams upped the pace offensively. USU would end the match with a 19-11 shot lead. Coming out of halftime, Utah State was very aggressive offensively. Fifteen minutes into the half, both Flanary and sophomore forward/midfielder Kersey Davis had attempts at goal from point-blank range, but Bears’ keeper Kirstin Salminen had a big save on Davis’s shot, while defender Eryn Daniel kept the ball out of the net after Flanary’s attempt. Utah State extended its lead to 2-0 in the 67th minute, once again behind the power of Flanary. Her fifth goal of the season came unassisted to increase the Aggie advantage. The Bears cut the lead 2-1 in the 81st minute when JJ Wykstra scored her first goal of the season. She scored off of passes from Madison Yoswa and Danielle Birdsall. USU now returns home to take on Utah on Friday, Sept. 2 at 4 p.m. The Utah Youth Soccer Association will be holding a clinic prior to the match, and both teams will sign autographs afterward. Fans can follow USU soccer at http://twitter.com/USUsoccer and Utah State athletics at http://twitter.com/USUAthletics. GOALS BY PERIOD 1st 2nd TotalUtah State 8 11 19Northern Colorado 3 8 11 SHOTS BY PERIOD 1st 2nd TotalUtah State 10 12 22Northern Colorado 1 7 8 SAVES BY PERIOD 1st 2nd TotalUtah State 2 2 4Northern Colorado 4 5 9 CORNERS BY PERIOD 1st 2nd TotalUtah State 2 6 8Northern Colorado 1 1 2 FOULS BY PERIOD 1st 2nd TotalUtah State 6 4 10Northern Colorado 4 7 11??-USU-

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