The Utah soccer team returned home from its last road trip of the regular season and is gearing up for its final home stretch of the 2015 campaign. The team is disappointed that it didn’t grab any points from its last two games, but the Utes are looking to find redemption this weekend when the Arizona schools come to town.
With training in full swing, head coach Rich Manning is preparing his team to finish strong. Aside from the practices themselves, this week is also time for recovery, with many players coming home sore.
Senior defender Baylee Nielsen suffered an arm injury against USC on Friday and was on the sidelines Sunday against UCLA with a sling. This will definitely be a concern for the Utes if she cannot recover before Friday.
Freshman midfielder Paola van der Veen went down to a knee injury on Sunday against UCLA. Her teammates feared the injury was worse than it seemed because she went down untouched. The Dutch playmaker turned out to be okay and returned to action in the second half, however.
Improvement in Key Areas
Though the the Utes lost both games, they still performed to head coach Rich Manning’s expectations. He thinks they really only lost because of unlucky goals that the opposition took advantage of.
Many of the players, especially the midfielders and defenders, stepped up to make sure the final third of the field was covered, as well as giving the offense many opportunities to get on the scoresheet.
The main concern for Manning the past few weeks was the Utes’ ability to play solid the entire game. In the end, Manning was impressed with his team even though the results on paper didn’t go as planned.
“We played well in the first half and continued to battle,” said Manning. “I’m proud of the team for showing tremendous grit and character in both games. I thought we defended with great intensity, moved the ball around well and created a bunch of opportunities. I’m extremely pleased with the fighting spirit shown by this team.”
Manning also credited goalkeeper Lindsey Luke for leading the backline and diminishing many of the opportunities both USC and UCLA had on Utah’s goal.
“Luke had a great game and made two big saves on through balls,” said Manning. “This weekend, our back four did a nice job keeping the opponents out of the penalty area.”
With one of Utah’s most consistent problems controlled, it hopes to perform even better at home this weekend.
Blackout game
Friday’s match against Arizona State is important for the Utes, who want to start their final home stretch of the season on the right foot. It will also be a blackout game, and the team is hoping the fans turn out to help support the Utes against the Sun Devils, who also need a win to stay relevant in the Pac-12.
Utah is also looking forward to playing the role of spoilers against the Arizona Wildcats on Sunday. The Utes want to knock them down further in the standings to give them a harder seed in the Pac-12 tournament and dim their hopes of a place in the NCAA College Cup.
Since Utah’s season is almost over, the team hopes to challenge its character and finish the year strong while keeping its pride in check.
@chad_marquez