The Ute soccer team (5-2) wrapped up its five-game home stand and ended its two-game losing streak Wednesday night when it beat Princeton 2-0.
The Utes were paced by two underclassmen: redshirt sophomore Erin Dalley and freshman Natalie Young each scored goals and sparked the Utes from off the bench. Utah’s bench will need to keep playing well for the team to have success.
“It’s really good to see people grow up and improve. Success is not always linear and you don’t always go up but tonight was definitely an up,” said head coach Rich Manning.
Manning hit the century mark in wins on Wednesday night and his record now stands at 100-40-16.
The Utes now head out on the road to face a quartet of very talented teams starting with No. 20 Colorado (3-2) on Friday at 4 p.m.
“Winning tonight gives us confidence and positivity heading into four tough road games,” Manning said.
Like the Utes, the Buffaloes will be looking to make amends for a tough home loss this week, coming off a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Oregon. In its previous match, Colorado needed double overtime to beat Denver 1-0 in Boulder. CU’s other loss was a neutral-site defeat to Illinois, 2-1.
Colorado is led offensively by Kelly Butler and Nikki Marshall with three goals apiece, while Butler also has an assist, giving her a team-leading seven points. Marshall owns two of Colorado’s game-winners and Butler netted the other. Ally Goodman has a pair of assists to lead the team in that discipline.
Three goalkeepers have seen time in the net for Colorado, with Kara Linder playing the majority of the time. She has put up solid numbers that are similar to that of Utah goalkeeper Hannah Turpen, setting the stage for a potential goalkeeping duel. Linder has made 14 saves while allowing four goals, for a save percentage of .778 and a goals-against-average of 0.83. Turpen made 15 saves and allowed three goals, for a GAA of 0.76 and a save percentage of .789.
“Colorado has won the Big 12 regular season and tournament in the past few years, and is consistently in the top 20,” Manning said. “These are games we want to play in. I’m sure we will find out more about our team this week and hopefully come away with a couple of good results.”
The Buffaloes are led by ninth-year head coach Bill Hempen, who owns a 96-58-23 (.607) record at CU and a 258-158-39 mark in his 21-year career.
Hempen has turned the Buffaloes from Big-12 bottom-dwellers into the class of the conference. His first year in Boulder, his team went 3-11-1 but just two years later he led Colorado to its first conference title and a 15-4-1 record. Hempen has coached the Buffaloes to six straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2006.
“Colorado is a big name and this will be a big game,” Manning said. “I have no doubts that our team can play well in these big games. I’m expecting us to play well.”