Aggie Soccer Closes Out Road Trip With 2-1 Loss to Utah Thursday

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Despite a solid second half, the Utah State soccer team fell just short against Utah, falling, 2-1, on Youth Soccer Day at Ute Field in Salt Lake City. Utah improves to 2-9-0 with the win, while the Aggies fall to 3-3-4 with the loss. Utah State is now 2-10 against Utah in 12 meetings. The Aggies are now 0-3-3 on the road this season. Utah challenged first with two corner kicks in the first six minutes of play. In the 36th minute, Utah’s Lexi Krantz had the first shot on goal of the match which was saved by USU junior goalkeeper Molli Merrill. who returned to the starting lineup after missing two matches with an injury. In the 27th minute, Utah had a goal called back due to offsides. With less than a minute remaining in the first half, Chelsea Forbes took the ball down the right side of the field, feeding it to Lauren Hair who drilled the ball past Merrill to give Utah the 1-0 lead. It was Hair’s second goal of the season. In the first half, the Utes out-shot the Aggies 11-5. Utah also had five corner kicks to none by Utah State. Junior forward Shantel Flanary led the way for USU in the first half with two shots, while three different Aggies had one shot in the first half. In the second half, senior Heather Pond had the Aggies’ first shot on goal in the 52nd minute that was saved by Ute goalkeeper Cheyanne Mulcock, who was making her first career start. Utah State tied the score in the 54th minute of the second half when freshman Kendra Pemberton delivered a ball from the right corner of the field to the foot of senior forward Lauren Hansen. The goal was Hansen’s fourth of the season and 29th of her Utah State career. Hansen is now three goals from tying Brigid Turner (1999-2002) for third all-time in goals scored. The goal was the first scored by the Aggies since the game-winning goal by Mari Miyashiro against Cal Poly on Sept. 12. In the 66th minute, Utah challenged once again. With Merrill out of the box, sophomore defender Natalie Norris made a save on a Hair shot. The Utes re-took the lead in the 78th minute when Morgan Skeen scored her first goal of the season. Hair had her third point of the match with the assist on the play. Skeen’s shot deflected off of a Utah State player to give the Utes the 2-1 advantage. For the match, the Utes out-shot 14-12 and had seven corner kicks to the Aggies three. All three of USU’s corner kicks were in the second half. Also, all four of USU’s shots on goal came in the second period. Utah State returns home to the friendly confines of Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field for another in-state battle. The Aggies will host No. 10 BYU on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 4 p.m. Fans can follow USU soccer at http://twitter.com/USUsoccer and Utah State athletics at http://twitter.com/USUAthletics. Shots by period 1 2 Total Utah State 5 7 12 UTAH 11 3 14   Corner kicks 1 2 Total Utah State 0 3 3 UTAH 5 2 7 Saves 1 2 Total Utah State 2 1 3 UTAH 0 3 3 Fouls 1 2 Total Utah State 3 3 6 UTAH 5 1 6 SCORING SUMMARY Goal Time Team Goal Scorer Assists Description 1. 44:18 UU HAIR, Lauren (2) FORBES, Chelsea Forbes cross from right side, Hair header six yards out 2. 53:11 USU Hansen, Lauren (4) Pemberton, Kendra Cross from left side, one timer five yards out 3. 78:49 UU SKEEN, Morgan (1) HAIR, Lauren Shot deflected out to Skeen,one time 22 yards out, deflected off USU     -USU-

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