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Utah State Soccer Knocks Off Nevada, 2-0, Friday For Best Conference Start In Program's History
Oct. 20, 2006
LOGAN, Utah - History was made and several milestones were reached as Utah State soccer knocked off Nevada, 2-0, Friday afternoon at a wet and soggy Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field. With the win, the Aggies are off to their best-ever start to conference action, posting a 3-0-1 Western Athletic Conference record. Utah State remains one of three unbeaten teams in the WAC, heading into hosting preseason conference favorite Fresno State on Sunday at Noon in the Aggies' regular-season finale. Fresno State took a 3-0-0 mark into Friday night's match at Louisiana Tech. Individually, senior forward Charity Weston established a new Utah State career assists record, freshman defender Jessica Darrow netted her first career goal, junior midfielder Dana Peart moved up the Aggies' career goals and points list, and steady sophomore goalkeeper Ali Griffin and the Utah State defensive line posted a season-high in saves. The win improved the Aggies to unbeaten status in six of the last nine matches as they are now 8-7-1 overall, marking the first time that USU has had a plus .500 record since 2-1 after a loss to Arizona on Sept. 1. Nevada falls to 1-1-2 in WAC play and 8-4-3 overall, with just one win in the last five matches. The 2-0 score was Utah State's first win by anything larger than one goal, as the Aggies had seven one-goal victories prior to Friday and have played in a total of 12 one-goal matches on the year. Weston became Utah State's career assists leader with her 12th career helper, feeding Peart in the 51st minute with a chip over the Nevada defense that Peart poked past diving Nevada goalkeeper Jen Mavis and into the net.
Peart notched her second goal in as many matches and her third goal of the season and 10th of her career, giving her 24 career points and tying current teammate senior forward Charlsie Harris, and former Aggie Emily Sutherland (1996-99) for seventh on USU's career goals list, as well as tying Harris for eighth on USU's career points list. Weston tallied her 12th career assist, pulling away from her tie with Amber Tracy (2000-03). "To be honest, I didn't really know I got the record. It feels cool to get the record, but it was just a good finish by Dana," Weston said. "That is probably our best combination of the season, on that play we had combinations all over the field and it was a great run and finish by Dana." Afterwards, USU head coach Heather Cairns had high praise for her senior forward. "That assist was just a testament of how much she means this means to this team," Cairns said. "Her humbleness in not wanting to talk about the individual award shows how much it does not really matter to her and the big picture is the WAC Championship." In the 64th minute, Griffin made a leaping save of a Nevada rocket of a shot to tip it over the bar, one of her career-high nine saves on the day, most of which were diving, sprawling efforts. The Aggies tacked on an insurance goal in the 82nd minute with sophomore defender Jessica Darrow tallying her first career goal off a corner kick from fellow defender, freshman Lindsey Smart that bounced through traffic to Darrow on the back side of the play and she buried it into the net. Nevada cranked up its pressure, but Griffin and the defensive line of Smart, Darrow, junior Jessie Malaska and sophomore Alyssa Lowry thwarted the scoring chances, preserving the sixth shutout of the season. "The second half was crazy, we were using our bodies to stop everything we could. Nevada had seven corners in the second half, with most of them in the last 10 minutes. Not only did we want the win, but we wanted a shutout and keep them off the board," Darrow said. "Scoring a goal was awesome. When the ball came to me, I knew it was my big chance to get us a 2-0 lead and put us that much further ahead. A 2-0 win feels much better than a 1-0 win. This was just a good win today, we played awesome to hold them off the board." The defense recorded its sixth team save of the season in the first half, clearing a Nevada shot off the line, as well as getting in the way of shots.
The match was halted for a brief moment in the 87th minute, as Nevada head coach Terri Patraw overly voiced her displeasure about a call and was ejected. Nevada controlled the majority of play, firing 25 shots, including 10 on goal, while Utah State had just 12 shots, with six on goal, as the Aggies improved to 4-6-0 when taking fewer shots than the opposition. "The same thing happened with Hawai'i," Weston said in reference to Monday's 2-1 in over Hawai'i. "We were out possessed but we found a way to win and that is really all that is important." The win also was a bit of redemption for Utah State from last season's dramatic 2-1 OT loss at Nevada, as the Aggies are now 4-2 against the Wolf Pack, including 3-0 on Utah State's home field. All three Aggie wins have been shutouts, with previous 4-0 blankings in 2000 and 2003. Home has been sweet for the Aggies in conference action, as they are now 9-2-2 at Bell Field in league contests, and are unbeaten in 13 of their last 16 home matches in improving to 4-2-1 at home this season and 20-14-8 at home since moving to Bell Field in 2002. Utah State wraps up its home portion of the schedule on Sunday, hosting Fresno State at Noon (MST) at Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field. Sunday is USU's final home match of the season and the Aggies will be honoring their three seniors: forwards Charlsie Harris and Charity Weston, and midfielder Sierra Smith. Nevada (8-4-3, 1-2-1 WAC) vs. Utah State (8-7-1, 3-0-1 WAC) Date: Oct 20, 2006 Attendance: 217 Weather: Rainy, cold and overcast |
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