Fans were not disappointed when Utah took on BYU last Friday. It was a hard-fought game from both teams that went down to the wire.
“Both teams competed well,” head coach Rich Manning said. “For an early season game, there was a lot of energy, and it felt good today.”
The energy at Ute Field reached its peak in the 84th minute, when Utah senior Katie Taylor sent a penalty kick past the Cougars keeper into the top right corner of the net to break a scoreless tie and give the Utes a 1-0 victory over their rivals.
Both teams started out strong, but BYU looked to have a slight upper hand with more shots in the first half. Utah attempted to use its speed to get through the Cougar defense, while BYU countered by trying to beat Utah on the outside wings.
“We are managing situations better,” Manning said. “The situations that came up, we handled well. I think our experience helped. We are now a mature team. We have kids in all classes with lots of experience, even though some of the girls are hurt right now, couldn’t play. Lot of people stepped in, and they knew what to do.”
Leading up to the penalty, junior Ali Allen ran onto a through ball and pushed it around BYU’s charging keeper but wasn’t able to get around herself. The keeper plowed through Allen, and the referee was forced to point to the center of the penalty box.
“There was just a through ball. I’m always told to run onto through balls,” Allen said. “I just ran as hard as I could at the ball. She came straight for me, and I just flew in the air.”
Manning hadn’t designated a player to take penalty kicks, so he waited and let the players on the field decide. Taylor was the one to step up.
“Honestly, I just heard all my teammates saying my name to come and take it,” Taylor said. “For me, that really helped. I felt like they were all behind me. I wasn’t planning on taking it necessarily. But having them all believe in me, it made it a lot easier to put it away.”
The top right corner wasn’t exactly the area Taylor was aiming for, but she was just fine with where it ended up: the back of the net.
In the final six minutes of the game Utah became very defensive. The Utes cleared away balls and played them into open space in order to waste time and weaken the Cougars’ attack.
“You want to pressure high in those last final minutes,” Taylor said. “We don’t want to go into overtime in a game like that. I think both teams were pretty dead. In the final minute it just comes down to heart. I felt like we played with more heart.”
Friday’s result marked the third straight year the rivalry game was decided by just one goal. It was also the second contest in a row that was decided by a late penalty kick, with BYU winning last season’s game in similar fashion.
Taylor’s game-winning goal was her first tally against the Cougars. It’s something she’s been waiting a long time to do.
“I’ve really wanted to score on that team since I was a freshman,” Taylor said.
Sophomore Katie Rigby made her return in this game after being injured the previous week. Rigby resumed her normal role in the midfield. With the win, Utah extends its unbeaten streak at home to 15 straight, also extending this season’s streak to five games unbeaten. The Utes will try and continue both streaks this coming Friday against UNLV. The game is scheduled to take place at Ute Field at 7:30 p.m. MT.
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