The U women’s soccer team started its 2016 season off strong with a 4-0 victory over Weber State Friday, Aug. 19 at Ute Field.
Overall, Utah dominated possession over Weber State as Paola Van der Veen led her team, putting pressure on the goalkeeper for Weber State as she took multiple shots. As Van Der Veen kept up the intensity throughout the game, sophomore midfielder Eden Jacobsen scored her first career goal after replacing senior forward Taylor Slattery.
“For early in the season, there was a lot of good and a lot of stuff we still need to work on,” said head coach Rich Manning. “If you can win and still find stuff to get better at, it’s awesome.”
Utah started the first half of its season opener with a goal from junior forward Natalie Vukic in the first 20 seconds.
After the goal, Utah kept control of the ball as Van Der Veen continued to take shots against Weber State’s goalkeeper, but all were blocked. Weber had a slow start in the first half, being outpaced by the Utes, and only attempted one shot against Utah.
Halfway through the first half, Jacobsen scored another goal for her team, assisted by Vukic. With more shots attempted but none that crossed the line, Utah didn’t manage to get another goal and the Utes led 2-0 at the end of the first half.
The second half started off slow for both teams, but Utah kept up the pressure with multiple shots within the first two minutes, although again, they failed to sink the ball in the back of the net.
After replacing sophomore forward/defender Hailey Skolmoski in the second half, redshirt junior forward/midfielder Cabria Turang held good control over the ball.
With solid possession, Utah picked up the pace, scoring its third goal of the game by freshman forward/defender Holly Daugirda, her first career goal.
Quickly after the goal, Skolmoski scored again for Utah, who was put back in, leading 4-0 with 11 minutes left in the game.
Utah kept solid control of the ball in the final 10 minutes, holding off its opponents and finishing with a 4-0 win.
“Overall, I think the team did really well, especially since it is our first game,” Daugirda said. “It was a good opportunity for us to connect and be more comfortable with each other, and I think it’s coming [together] and it will get better.”
Up next for U women’s soccer, the women will head to Minneapolis to compete against Minnesota on Sunday, Aug. 21, with kickoff at 12 p.m.
“I hope that we bring the same kind of energy we had here at home when we are on the road,” Manning said. “It is will be a great test. [Minnesota] is a really physical team. We will be defending more than we did tonight and when we have the ball, we will have a lot less time so we will have to make better decisions.”
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