In seven years as Utah’s head coach, Rich Manning had never seen one of his Utah teams get lit up for five goals. Saturday night, his Utes received the unfortunate gift.
The Utes were blanked by BYU 5-0 in the team’s conference opener at Ute Field. The last time Utah gave up five goals was in August of 2001 to the Florida Gators.
About 900 fans battled the rainy elements until halftime, only to see the Utes go down by five before the break.
“BYU did a great job tonight,” Manning said. “That’s the way they play all the time, with passion up and down the field, and tonight was no different.”
The Cougars got off to a fast start as BYU’s Katie Larkin wasted no time rifling a shot in from 22 yards out in the sixth minute. It was the fastest goal Utah had given up all year. The eventual game-winner was Larkin’s first of the year.
Larkin struck again three minutes later, this time by a penalty kick, the first the Utes had surrendered in 2008.
But the Cougars were just getting started. In the 13th minute, BYU forward Lauren Anderson added to the tally, sneaking her shot between Utah keeper Emalee Rogers and the far post to increase the Cougars’ lead to three.
The Utes prevented BYU’s lead from increasing to four until the 35th minute when sophomore forward Becca Riddle buried the shot from 20 yards deep off a rebound that sprung off the Utah post. Less than a minute later, the Cougars cashed in on their final goal of the night, a header from senior forward Katie Hodgkiss.
There was a mass exodus from Ute Field as the halftime buzzer sounded. Many had seen enough and sought shelter from the rain and cold.
The Cougars out-shot Utah 24 to 16 while the Utes managed three shots more on goal than BYU. Saturday night was the fifth time this year Utah has been shut out.
“We have to respond and hang in better than that,” Manning said. “I felt there were goals to be had out there, but we were not ready to get them.”
Utah’s normally stingy defense never seemed to get going until it was too late. Rogers gave way in the second half to freshman goalie Hannah Turpen. Turpen, seeing her first minutes of collegiate soccer, made one save that night and BYU went scoreless in the second half.
The loss to BYU will be known as the first time Utah lost its conference season opener since 2004, which was Manning’s third season as head coach.
“Now we will just have to go back, try to learn some lessons from this and get ready for next Thursday,” Manning said.
The Utes have a short week ahead of them, Utah will host two more conference rivals starting this Thursday night when San Diego State comes to Salt Lake. The Utes will again play host Saturday night to the UNLV Rebels.