Press Release
HENDERSON, NV – The Utah State Eastern women’s soccer team defeated the Salt Lake Community College Bruins on penalty kicks 6-5 in the Region XVIII Tournament on Friday.
With the win, the Eagles advanced to the championship game against undefeated and top seed Snow College on Saturday.
The Eagles and Bruins were scoreless in the first half thanks to great defense from both sides. In the 60′ minute of the game, SLCC’s Litzy Serna scored a goal for the Bruins.
With time dwindling down in the first half, sophomore Taryn Pritchett scored a goal from deep outside the box in the 79′ minute. Salt Lake’s goalie attempted the save but could not stop the ball from going in.
The final ten minutes did not have either team put a ball in the back of the net and the game went to overtime.
Both teams still could not score a goal to break the tie in the first overtime period and in the second overtime.
After two ten-minute overtime periods, the game would be decided on penalty kicks. Each team would have five take a shot against the opposing team’s goalie and the team that scored the most out of the five opportunities won.
Each team scored four goals and had one miss during the penalty kicks and the game would go to sudden death penalty kicks.
After a made goal by the Eagles, it was Salt Lake’s turn to try and keep the game going. Sophomore Shyann Jones made an a big stretch and came up with the game-clinching save.
After the game, USU Eastern head coach Ammon Bennett said that he was proud of the way his team has came together to pull out the big win.
“My team has gone through a lot of adversity and lot of coming together moments and I couldn’t be more proud of them,” said Bennett.
Bennett also said that he was proud of the way his team stepped up and limited the opportunities for the Bruins to score compared to previous matchups.
“We limited their chances and I am proud of what they did. Salt Lake is a great team and it goes to penalty kicks and anyone can win on that but we end up winning because Shyann stepped up and made a huge save,” said Bennett.
For more information about the Region XVIII Tournament and awards, fans can check out Utah State Eastern Athletics official Facebook page or go to usueasternathletics.com.
