Photos by Jeff Barrett
USU Eastern Press Release
Utah State Eastern women’s soccer lost two close and competitive games to #10 Snow College on Friday and Saturday at home.
In the first game of the weekend, the Eagles lost in the final minutes of the game to the defending conference champion Badgers.
Sophomore Morgan Hall scored the first goal of the game when she put the ball in the back of the net off a Snow defender in the fourth minute.
Both teams played very physical throughout the first half and did not find the net heading into halftime.
Snow’s Chloe Martin put a score on the board with a goal in first four minutes of the second half to tie the game at 1-1.
In the 68 minute, sophomore McKenna Wiscombe hit a goal to break the tie with an assist from Alie Stevens.
With less than eight minutes left in the game, Snow’s Mei Suetsugu hit the equalizer to tie the game again.
“We came out and attacked early but the biggest thing was maintaining possession throughout and that would have been the thing to help us keep the win,” said USU Eastern’s Anna Towne.
Snow’s Hallie Rhees hit the game-winning goal with a minute left in the game. The Badgers scored the game winner on a corner kick and were able to easily tap it into the goal.
“Its a dangerous ball and good play but we have to mark up on those plays and we failed to do that,” said Towne.
After the game, USU Eastern head coach Ammon Bennett said Snow did what they were good at to get the win in a very good game between both teams.
“Snow is a really good team and they are very good at set pieces, which we limited them on that with only allowing them three corner kicks. It was a really good game, a game we could have easily won,” said Bennett.
Saturday’s game started much different than Friday afternoon’s game. The Badgers ended up winning the game 1-0 in what Coach Bennett would call a “street fight”.
In the first half, neither team found the back of the net while playing a very physical style of game.
“Both teams were very intense and we came out ready to take it to them. We didn’t like how we played necessarily and obviously Snow didn’t either, so it was very neck and neck,” said Towne.
The lone goal of the game came off a penalty kick scored by Snow’s Kaoru Hiyashi.
The Eagles had some opportunities to get something going on offense but ran out of time and lost a very close game to Snow.
Bennett said that he liked what he saw from his team over the weekend against Snow and the past two weeks of practice.
“Overall, they just played really, really well and you hate to lose such close games like that. I thought we played our best soccer against one of the best teams we have faced all year. It is just disappointing to lose when you play well,” said Bennett.
The Eagles now have a 5-4-1 overall record and a Scenic West Athletic Conference record of 1-4-1. As of right now, the Eagles will have the upcoming weekend off to practice with no games. They return to action on the road against Southern Nevada on Oct. 10 in Henderson.
