The Utah women’s soccer team (3-2-1) is heading up to Boise this Friday to take on former MWC foe Boise State. This is the Utes’ fifth road trip in seven outings, and the team expects to once again be tested away from home.
The Broncos are 1-3-1 this season but had a strong showing this past weekend, nabbing a victory and a draw against in-state rivals Idaho and Idaho State. The Broncos’ biggest improvements were on defense, as goalkeeper Janelle Flores had a shutout in their victory over the Vandals and held the Bengals to one goal on her way to a Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week nod.
Utah head coach Rich Manning believes that despite their record, the Broncos cannot be written off, especially on their home field.
“They’re a good team,” Manning said. “They have some good attacking players, and they’re well-organized. It’s going to be a tough game. We’re coming off a really tough weekend. Can we gear it back up for this game? That’s the test.”
The Utes faced staunch opposition this past weekend in their loss to No. 9 BYU. But the team will be looking to harness some of the momentum from their rebound victory on Sunday over San Diego.
Team captain Megan Trabert pointed out their loss to the Cougars motivated the team to improve on their focus and intensity in the following match. This weekend, the team will be looking to maintain this attitude.
“On Sunday we found another gear,” Trabert said. “We found another level of working hard and pushing through the fatigue and the traveling and everything. We are definitely looking to continue that this weekend.”
In spite of the challenges that come with playing on a new field almost every week, Utah has fared well in their matches away from Ute field. So far this season, the Utes’ ability to win away games is a vast improvement over their previous efforts, and Utah looks likely to surpass its 4-4-2 away record from last year.
“We’re excited for another opportunity on the road to show what we can do,” Trabert said. “I think this year we’ve improved a lot on the road as far as years in the past. We’re excited for the challenge, obviously on the road it makes it more difficult than playing at home, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Kickoff is at 4 p.m. MST.
@tylerfcrum