It’s no “Blackout,” but the No. 2 seeded Utes are going to take on TCU with major implications on the line.
Utah will seek revenge tomorrow against the Horned Frogs in the semifinals of this year’s Mountain West Conference Tournament.
Yesterday, the No. 3 seeded Horned Frogs knocked out the No. 6 seeded San Diego State Aztecs and ended SDSU’s 2008 campaign. TCU struck first when Jordan Calhoun buried a shot in the left-hand corner in the 31st minute. But the Aztecs weren’t going down without a fight. In the 51st minute of play, SDSU leveled the score when a shot off the foot of sophomore Cat Walker found the back of the net, which eventually sent the game into overtime. TCU’s Jackie Torda finished off the Aztecs in the 97th minute off a rebound of a TCU corner kick, beating the SDSU keeper and sending the Horned Frogs into the semifinals.
This will be the second time Utah and TCU square off this season8212;the first time these two teams met was in October when the Utes traveled down to Fort Worth, Texas.
After shutting out TCU in the first half, Utah gave up two costly goals in the second period of play and couldn’t manage a single shot on net against the Horned Frogs, the Utes were sent home on the wrong end of a 2-0 shutout.
Since the TCU loss, Utah has gone 3-0 and is riding a wave of momentum into its first game of the conference tournament.
“I feel we have grown and improved as a team in every area of the game since the beginning of conference play,” said head coach Rich Manning. “We have more confidence and experience and I think that has played a big part in their improvement.”
Leading the Utah offensive attack against TCU will be sophomore forward Lauren Hair who earlier this week was named to the All-Mountain West Second Team.
“(Hair) is in good scoring form and is scoring the kinds of goals that we expect her to score,” Manning said. “She is playing to her strengths and not trying to do things that are uncomfortable for her.”
Hair finished conference play with three goals and eight points but was not the only Ute to be recognized by the MWC. Freshman defender Lauren Porter was also named to the all-MWC second team alongside Hair for her pair of goals as well as an outstanding first season playing center-back for the Utes.
Both Kelly Isleib and Katy Reineke were also named all-MWC first team members this week. This was Isleib’s second straight season receiving the honor of first team all-conference. She received the honors by becoming Utah’s all-time leader in assists with 23 in her career.
In Reineke’s final year with the team, the senior earned her first ever all-conference recognition, doing so by leading the Utes in points during conference play. Reineke was able to find the back of the net three times as well as being credited with two assists, giving her eight points by the time the season was over.
Manning will look to his all-conference performers to lead his team as a unit both offensively and defensively.
“If we are going to be successful we can’t rely only on one or two players offensively or defensively,” Manning said. “It really has to be a team effort. We need everyone out there to feel that they can be the player to make a big play or score a big goal. When everyone is in that mindset, it bodes well for our team.”
Utah kicks off its 2008 tournament run today at 1 p.m. in Las Vegas. You can watch the Utes on The Mtn.
Aaron SchwendimanKelly Isleib was named to the all-MWC first team earlier this week. Isleib and the Utes will face TCU today in the second round of the MWC tournament.