Many questions surrounded head coach Rich Manning and his squad entering this season.
With a large freshman class coming in, there were questions of how Utah would handle the college game and how it would come together as a team.
There were also questions for the Utah attack. After losing Adele Letro to transfer and sophomore forward Erin Dalley to a pre-season knee injury, where was the Utah offense going to come from? Who would step up and lead the Utes’ attack?
Although the team got off to a slow start, losing four of its first five matches, the Utes rallied together midway through the season to finish as No. 2 in both the Mountain West Conference Tournament as well as the MWC regular season.
The Utes had little, if any, time to work out any preseason kinks when they kicked off their regular season on an East Coast road trip to North Carolina. The Utes opened their campaign against ACC powerhouse Wake Forest. With seven of Utah’s starting 11 being either sophomores or freshmen, the Utes were forced to learn to play with each other on the fly. While the Utes did fall to the Demon Deacons in overtime, the young team showed its resilience and came back to defeat UNC Greensboro 2-1 in another overtime game that same weekend.
The Utes’ first weekend of the season would prove to be their most powerful defining trait. But Manning’s team still struggled to find its rhythm early on. Utah would go on to lose its next four games, including the first two home games of the season against Arizona and Georgia.
Refusing to give up, the Utes earned their second win of the season when they hosted in-state rival Utah State on Ute Field and sent the Aggies home with a 2-0 loss.
Utah closed out its non-conference schedule by dropping only one game over the course of its final five matches. The Utes were 4-6-2 in conference play.
Although the non-conference season left Utah with a losing record, Manning and the Utes learned a lot about their team. Kelly Isleib, who had been known mostly for her passing as a sophomore, took the reigns of the Utah attack, leading the way in goals scored, as well as game-winning goals.
On the defensive end of the field, the back line of Morgan Skeen, Lauren Porter, Lauren Dudley and Nicole Cardon gave Utah fans something to look forward to for seasons to come. The back line of Utah had quickly become the Utes’ biggest strength. Not only did the Utah defense have four shutouts in non-conference play, but as a group, it also had three goals.
But conference play is when Utah’s season really started to come together. After a crushing loss at home to BYU, Utah went on to win five of its final six conference games to finish at No. 2 in the MWC regular season. The late-season surge was led by the Utah attacking trio of Isleib, senior midfielder Katy Reineke and sophomore forward Lauren Hair, all of whom, along with Porter, earned All-MWC team nominations for their performances.
It was Isleib’s second straight season named to the All-MWC First Team, while Reineke made the most of her final season by earning a spot on the team for the first time in her career. Reineke led the Utes in points in league play, tallying three goals along with two assists.
Hair and Porter were named to the second team for their performances in league play8212;it was the first all-conference recognition for both players. Porter’s continued progression at the center back spot along with her two conference goals earned her a spot on the team, while Hair had a breakout performance on the attacking end of the field, scoring three goals for the Utes in league play.
The post-season awards continued for Utah this past week when three Utes earned All-MWC Tournament selections for their contributions to a Utah side that made it to the championship game. Isleib and Hair again received accolades from the conference, but this time, they were joined by senior captain Pedro Sanchez. Isleib and Sanchez held down the Utah midfield in the 2-1 overtime win against TCU while Hair was named to the team for her assist against TCU as well as setting up the eventual game-winning own goal by TCU. But in the championship game, Utah again fell to BYU who went undefeated in regular season league play as well as in the tournament.
Looking to next season, Manning will be returning all but two of this year’s starting 11, including both keepers who got minutes for Utah, junior Emalee Rogers and freshman Hannah Turpen. Utah will lose two important pieces of its midfield this off-season as both Sanchez and Reineke have played their final minutes as Utes.
But with a full defensive line intact, as well as the attacking force of Hair and Isleib, Utah should again be one of the favorites to run away with the Mountain West next year.
Aaron SchwendimanKelly Isleib stepped in to fill the void left in the Utes scoring attack that was left after the loss of Adele Letro and Erin Dalley in the off season.