BYU women’s soccer loses to Utah State to snap 4-game unbeaten streak
The No. 18 nationally-ranked BYU women’s soccer team faced the Utah State Aggies on Saturday, Sept. 18, losing 2-1 in overtime.
Getting to play a rival is pretty crazy according to Cameron Tucker, a senior for BYU. “It’s always a good, fun rival and it’s fun to see your friends, so it’s always really competitive.”
BYU went into tonight’s game with a two-game win streak and four-game unbeaten streak and the Aggies came in fighting hard after a loss to Utah. There were two fouls from the Aggies within the first few minutes as they tried to take possession of the game.
Despite Utah State’s attempt to control the game, BYU bombarded the Aggies’ goal at the beginning of the first half. The Cougars struggled to put one in, however.
BYU took 11 shots against the Aggies in the first half, with three coming from Mikayla Colohan. Utah State took just three shots.
Nevertheless, the Aggies were the first to get on the board. Ashley Cardozo scored the first point of the match in the 24th minute. The Cougars trailed the Aggies 1-0 at the half.
The play was tense as the second half began with both teams playing aggressively. Things escalated as BYU set up for a free kick. BYU’s Laveni Vaka and Utah State’s Sammie Murdock had an altercation which resulted in two yellow cards, one for each player.
In the 57th minute, Cameron Tucker passed the ball back to Colohan at the top of the box. From there, Colohan shot it past the keeper and put the Cougars on the board to tie the game.
The Cougars and the Aggies continued to battle throughout the second half. BYU continued to pressure the goal but the Aggie goalkeeper, Diera Walton, stood firm. She finished with an eye-popping 11 saves on the night.
“We created a lot of opportunities but didn’t score,” BYU head coach Jennifer Rockwood said.
Regulation ended 1-1 and both teams came out fired up for the 10 minute overtime period. Brecken Mozingo had a shot to put the Cougars ahead in the 95 minute but it was too far left.
Tenzi Knowles sealed the win for Utah State in the 99th minute. Her goal put the Aggies up at 2-1 against the Cougars.
“Congratulations to Utah State, they came out and took one away from us for sure,” Rockwood said. “They had a couple of opportunities and they made the most of them.”
The Cougars entered Saturday’s game undefeated at South Field this season. They had previously scored seven goals in each of their last three home games.
“We’ve gotta figure out a way to put the ball in the back of the net when we have chances and so we’ll keep working on that,” Rockwood said.
BYU will face Gonzaga next in Spokane, Washington on Oct. 2.
