Oct. 8, 2006

Box Score

RUSTON, La. - Utah State soccer successfully kicked off Western Athletic Conference with a 2-1 victory over Louisiana Tech Sunday afternoon at La Tech's Joe Aillet Stadium at Ruston, La. Senior forward Charity Weston tallied a goal and an assist in the match, giving her three goals in the last four matches as the Aggies played in their eighth-straight one-goal match and 11th of the season.

With the win, USU improves to 6-7 overall and opens WAC play with a 1-0 conference mark. It was the second year in a row that the Aggies have opened WAC action with a victory, as USU beat La Tech last season on the Aggies' home field. With the win, Utah State also improves to 5-6 all-time in conference openers as the Aggies were 3-6 in Big West Conference openers.

La Tech falls to 4-5-2 overall and 0-1 in WAC play, as Sunday was the Lady Techsters' first match since Sept. 27.

Utah State outshot La Tech, 17-12, for the match, including 10-4 in shots on goal, and 8-4 in the first half, hitting the back of the net twice before intermission. The Aggies' two goals in the first half gives them three first half goals in their last two matches, after not scoring before halftime in their prior 11 matches.

"We did a really good job in the first half, adapting to the smaller field and the field turf, and scoring two goals before halftime," Cairns said. "We want to come out and put pressure on teams in the first half and we did a good job of that today. If you go up on a team in the first half, it is harder for them to come back, as opposed to keeping the game going tied or behind going into the second half then that becomes more of a challenge to come back."

Weston netted the match's first goal in the 29th minute off a quick throw-in and weaving through the La Tech defense and assisted on the second goal in the 38th minute, driving down the right wing feeding sophomore forward Candice Clark for Clark's first goal of the season and second of her career.

"Charity was phenomenal today," Cairns said. "She made her teammates better and created lots of scoring opportunities."

Weston now has a team-leading eight points on the season, tallying seven points in span of just over a week, netting goals in last Saturday's 1-0 win over Eastern Washington, Monday's 1-0 win over San Francisco and Sunday.

With the assist, Weston ties Amber Tracy (2000-03) for the USU career assists record with 11 assists.

Utah State returns for its conference home-opener on Friday, Oct. 13, hosting San Jose State at Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field at 3 p.m., before heading to Honolulu, Hawai'i to face last season's regular-season conference champion Hawai'i on Oct. 15.

 Utah State (6-7-0, 1-0-0) vs. Louisiana Tech (4-5-2, 0-1-0)
 Date: Oct 08, 2006  Attendance: 125
 Weather: Sunny
 Goals by period       1  2  Tot
 -------------------------------
 Utah State..........  2  0 -  2
 Louisiana Tech......  0  1 -  1
 SCORING SUMMARY:
  1.  28:47 USU Weston, Charity (3) (unassisted) - off quick throw-in
  2.  37:16 USU Clark, Candice (1) (Weston, Charity) - off cross from right
  3.  89:35 TECH Wilson, Denise (4) (unassisted) - FIRST CONFERENCE GOAL IN SCHOOL HISTORY
 Shots: Utah State 17, Louisiana Tech 12
 Saves: Utah State 3 (Griffin, Ali 3), Louisiana Tech 8 (Medigovich,
 Jill 8)
 USU's second-straight WAC opening win over La Tech.
 USU's eighth one-goal match in a row and 11th of season.
 Weston's third goal and seventh points in last four matches.