It has been a busy couple of days for goalie Emalee Rogers and the Utah women’s soccer team.
Friday night the Utes ended their four game losing streak in front of a record-breaking crowd at Ute field. They followed that up Sunday with a trip to Los Angles to face Loyola Marymount University, where the team had to endure its fourth overtime game of the year, and eventually had to settle for a 0-0 deadlock. The weekend was capped off Monday when Ute Rogers was named MWC Defensive player of the week.
“I think I am playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Rogers said. “I worked really hard in the offseason on everything the coaches asked me to. But I really can’t take individual credit for this award. It is really all about the way we are playing as a team. The back four in front of me have really improved and made my job easier.”
Rogers was recognized for the award after back-to-back clean sheets this past weekend, first against Utah State, then again on the road. In front of a capacity crowd against Utah State, Rogers was forced to make five saves to keep the shutout intact.
“We always like playing at home and I think it really helped our confidence,” said Rogers. “Defensively we’re gaining a lot of confidence. We’re starting to really come together as far as reading plays and communicating.”
Utah’s defensive intensity continued against LMU where Rogers was up to the task again, making three saves to preserve the team’s second shutout on the weekend.
“We talked a lot about being able to provide our own energy,” Rogers said. “Coming out with fire and energy and being able to be productive offensively, we got a lot of great shots on goal, their goalkeeper did a great job of limiting goals but the chances we got were very good.”
After starting the season 1-5 the Utes seemed to be feeling their youth, but behind Rogers and team-leading scorer Kelly Isleib, the Utes looked like a new team this past weekend.
“The college game is so different from club and high school,” Rogers said. “Our young players are doing a great job adjusting to the physicality and aggressiveness, we really rely on them. We’re a lot more confident in each other, we’re communicating better and being able to read each other both offensively and defensively is really helping.”
For at least the past two games, the Utes have been able to avoid early mistakes, which have haunted them. The award speaks well of both Rogers and the entire team’s maturity.
“I think it shows a lot of character on the part of Emalee and the team as well,” said head coach Rich Manning. “After some disappointing early results where we gave up some preventable goals, they have bounced back, straightened out some problems and shown good improvement.”
The Utes will kick off a two game home stand this Friday, when they welcome Long Beach State to the Ute Field.
“Long Beach has an awesome team,” Rogers said. “We’re really excited about this weekend, we get to play in front of our home crowd and we always like to do well.”
Lennie MahlerUte goalie Emalee Rogers credits her award of MWC Defensive player of the week to her entire teams effort.