Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Jordan Buscarini
On Thursday at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, the Region XVIII Soccer Championships got underway and the USU Eastern ladies, who were the No. 3 seed in the tournament, played Salt Lake Community College, the No. 2 seed. Salt Lake is also ranked No. 9 nationally.
Eastern got on the board first and their defense kept it close until a late goal gave Salt Lake the 2-1 lead and the win, ending the Lady Eagles’ season.
The USU Eastern Lady Eagles made it through the regular season with an 8-5-1 record and earned a 6-2-1 region record, which was enough to earn the No.3 seed in the tournament.
Eastern’s Maclani Michael entered the game in the 15th minute and promptly got the Eagles on the board 1-0, and carried that score to half time.
Coming out in the second half, Salt Lake’s Lexi Vernsey tied the contest up in the 51st minute. The game was a defensive struggle after that, going all the way down to the 79th minute when Jordan Roe found the back of the net, giving the Bruins a 2-1 victory and allowing them to advance into the finals to face Snow College on Saturday.
The Eagles were able to come up with five shots on goal but unfortunately, Theresa Wiesiolek, who was in goal for Salt Lake the entire contest, was able to stop all but one.
Ruth Sumner, who was between the pipes for the Eagles, came up with five saves against seven shots on goal in the loss.