Close Game: The Utah soccer team’s first match in Los Angeles didn’t go as planned as the Utes were brought down by No. 24 USC 1-0 on Friday. The Trojans’ only goal of the match came from an easily-placed penalty kick by junior Mandy Freeman in the 58th minute. The Utes also had decent chances during the match as well – including close chances in the second half for Katie Rogers and Megan Trabert – but ultimately left the Trojans’ home turf empty-handed.
Scoreless Woes: The Utes have not won a match in the last three weeks and unfortunately matched another record back that happened in 2011 – not scoring a goal in their last four games. Utah has had problems with finishing this season, and this continued to be an issue against the Trojans. There were many close chances on goal but those chances were not taken. Head coach Rich Manning knows the scoring issues are present and has been working his team to the bone trying to repair their goal-scoring woes in training. Even though the Utes were closer than ever to getting something on the scoreboard in the matchup with USC, it ultimately didn’t happen, leaving the Utes wanting more than they were served.
Strong Defense: One positive to take away from this match for Utah was its defensive strength as a team. This was especially the case in the first half – where the Utes held a second-placed Trojans team in place for the first 45 minutes. Utah has had issues holding teams scoreless at the beginning of games the last four matches, and worked on addressing their defensive concerns the past couple of weeks. The team was solid in the back and used USC’s denied opportunities to counter and take chances on the Trojans’ goal. This is a definite positive the Utes can take with them for Sunday’s match against UCLA.
NCAA Champions Next: Utah’s next road game will not get any easier – the team will face the 2014 NCAA defending champions, UCLA, on Sunday. The Bruins, who are currently two spots above Utah in the Pac-12 standings at seventh, aren’t living up to their usual standards, with a disappointing season compared to their silverware-winning campaign last year. Utah will still have a lot of work to do in order to get some points and will want to end their final road game of the regular season in winning fashion.
Kickoff for Utah-UCLA is on Sunday at 7 p.m. MST and can be seen on Pac-12 Networks.
@chad_marquez