The same injury bug that has ravaged the U football team has started nipping at the U women’s soccer team.
Two more Utah players were added to the list of casualties Wednesday following a match at Utah Valley State College.
Already playing without Utah’s two standout players — goal scorer Adele Letro and assist extraordinaire Kelly Isleib — two more Utes suffered injuries during the in-state showdown.
Morgan Skeen hurt her knee and, though her injury remains undiagnosed, early signs indicate that Skeen is probably out for the remainder of the season with an ACL injury.
About five minutes after Skeen left the field with her injury, Melissa Crespo went up for a header and came down with a concussion.
Letro, who sprained her quad against Boise State on Sept. 30, is still a question mark for Utah’s upcoming match against Utah State on Saturday.
Isleib, who hurt her left knee against Boise State, won’t play Saturday and is expected to miss a week of action.
“We’re trying to cook up answers as we speak,” coach Rich Manning said of how the Utes are responding to the sudden barrage of injuries.
Manning was pleased with the way his thinned-out roster played against UVSC. Even without Letro and Isleib — and later, Skeen and Crespo — the Utes beat the Wolverines 6-0.
“I think a lot of people in the game yesterday made their case for plugging into the starting positions,” Manning said.
“The players that got a chance to play stepped up and made a difference,” he said. “There was a lot of positive energy.”
The Utes (7-2-2) are slated to take on Utah State (4-6-0) in Logan on Saturday, in Utah’s last match before beginning the conference season against UNLV next week.
The good news for the Utes is that everyone, with the exception of Skeen, should be back for the UNLV game.
While the Utes are coming off a six-goal effort, the Aggies have struggled offensively as of late. Utah State is averaging 1.0 goals per game in its last five matches. Letro alone is netting 1.2 goals per game this season.
The Utes will spend the next week recovering and preparing for a difficult start to the MWC schedule. The Utes play arguably the two toughest teams in the conference in the first week — UNLV and No. 23 BYU.
Maegan BurrLauren Hair protects the ball from Lauren Tuerpe of UVSC. The Utes will try to continue their winning ways as they take on Utah State in Logan this Saturday.