Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Jordan Buscarini
The USU Eastern men’s soccer squad traveled to Herriman on Thursday to take part in the Region XVIII Soccer Championships hosted by Salt Lake Community College at Zions Bank Stadium. In their opening match, USU Eastern faced the Snow College Badgers.
These two teams had split the season series with each team winning at home. On Thursday, the Badgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the half and never relinquished it, winning the game 3-1.
The Eagles had a very successful season, going 10-3-1 overall and 8-2-1 in region play. After week one, they entered the top 20 nationally at No. 17, and never fell out of the top 20, climbing as high as No.10.
Snow College got on the board in the 14th minute when Hugo Champalloux found the back of the net to take the early lead. Less than a minute later, Zachary Lifferth put another goal on the board, taking a 2-0 lead into the half.
In the 49th minute, USU Eastern got on the board when Kevin Jones put one between the pipes off of an assist from Aiden McMullin, putting the score at 2-1.
In the 77th minute, Lifferth put Snow up 3-1 off of an assist from Oliver Fehintola, putting the Badgers up for good and sending the USU Eastern Eagles home.