Sept. 30, 2006

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LOGAN, Utah - Head coach Heather Cairns became Utah State's all-time winningest soccer head coach and senior forward Charity Weston moved up to tie for fourth on USU's career goals list in leading the Aggies to a 1-0 win over Eastern Washington Saturday morning at a sunbathed Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field.

With the victory, Cairns recorded her 27th win at the helm of the Aggies, moving her overall record to 27-33-7 and passing Stacy Enos (1996-2000), who went 26-59 in five seasons at USU.

"It feels good to put my stamp on the program because it is a win," Cairns said. "Anytime you win it is good, but I would like to put my stamp on the program in other ways like conference championships as well. The record is nice, but we've got bigger fish to fry, and bigger goals for this season."

The Aggies improve to 4-6-0 overall, including winning 10 of last 11 home matches, as well as evening their record against the Eagles of Eastern Washington at 2-2-0 overall, winning both matches at Logan. Eastern Washington had its two-match win streak halted and is now 4-7-1 on the season.

Utah State had a dominating 22-2 advantage in shots, including 14-1 in the second half. The Aggies also had an 8-1 shots on goal edge. A total of 12 USU players took shots, led by freshman forward Erin Salmon's four, while Weston and sophomore midfielder Shannon Ross had three apiece.

"We started a little slow, but then built the energy up," Cairns said. "Certainly in the second half when it was coming down to crunch time, we brought it."

Weston tallied her first goal of the season and 11th of her career in the 65th minute, heading the ball over EWU goaltender Tiera Como and into the net. The goal was set up by a long pass from junior defender Jessie Malaska, who was fed by Ross.

With the goal, Weston moves into a tie for fourth on the USU career goals list with Marnie Bartelson (1997-2000) and Nicole (Fuez) Gooch, with 11 goals. The goal now gives Weston three points on the season and 32 for her career, as she also is fourth on the Aggies' career points list.

"It's a huge relief to get that first goal of the season, hopefully they'll start coming now, but today relieves some of that pressure," Weston said. "Our defense did a really good job of pushing everyone up and our midfield played well today in controlling the ball, which allowed us to play more of an attacking style rather than defending the whole time."

Sophomore goalkeeper Ali Griffin recorded her third shutout of the season, seeing limited action and making one save, as the Aggies' defensive line thwarted most of EWU's attacks. Griffin has now played in 1,005 minutes for her career, making her eligible for the USU career goals against average, taking over the top spot with a 0.99 goals against average.

"It felt good to score and post the shutout too," Malaska said. "Our backline has been playing really well together lately. Our chemistry has been getting better and today we played well and got the shutout win."

An added bonus to the match for the Aggies, was the return of the lineup for sophomore midfielder Lacey Christenson for a large portion of time.

"Lacey was a spark plug for us today and made a difference in the match. Cairns said. "She had been getting in for little 10 minutes spurts, she's been coming on. Today she was feeling it and just making a difference. The pace of the game today was perfect for her. You love it when she wins balls in the air.

Freshman forward Alysa Adams also saw her first action of the year, coming on as a substitute in the first half.

"Alysa's been performing regularly well in practice, so it was nice to get her first minutes of the season," Cairns said.

The Aggies host San Francisco on Monday, Oct. 2 at 3 p.m. (MST). USU wraps up its homestand and its non-conference portion of the schedule on Friday, Oct. 6, hosting in-state foe Utah Valley State at 3 p.m. The Aggies then kick-off Western Athletic Conference action on Sunday, Oct. 8, traveling to Ruston, La. to tangle with Louisiana Tech.

Eastern Washington (4-7-1) vs. Utah State (4-6-0)
 Date: Sep 30, 2006  Attendance: 230
 Weather: Clear and sunny
 Goals by period       1  2  Tot
 -------------------------------
 Eastern Washington..  0  0 -  0
 Utah State..........  0  1 -  1
 SCORING SUMMARY:
  1.  64:43 USU Weston, Charity (1) (Malaska, Jessie;Ross, Shannon) - header over GK from 8 yds out
 Shots: Eastern Washington 2, Utah State 22
 Saves: Eastern Washington 7 (Tiera Como 7), Utah State 1 (Griffin, Ali
 1)
 USU head coach Heather Cairns becomes USU's winningest head
 coach with 27 career wins.
 Weston moves up to tied for 4th on USU's career goal list
 with 11.