After its first loss against Minnesota on Sunday (Aug. 21), the Utah women’s soccer team took a 3-0 victory against San Diego on Friday at the Ute Field, bringing its record to 2-1 for the season.
Overall, Utah kept solid possession over the ball, pressuring San Diego with multiple goal shots. The first half of the game started off slow with no goals, leaving the score 0-0 going into halftime, but picked up the pace in the second half with the first goal of the game for the Utes.
“We put in a great performance. It was really good to watch,” said head coach Rich Manning. “The team had a lot of energy, but also responded to the different pictures that USD gave us. [San Diego] changed what they were doing two or three times and we responded really well.”
At kickoff, the Utes and the Toreros had a slow start in the first, with a lot of passing back and forth with the ball between the teams. Utah kept the pressure on with multiple shots, outpacing San Diego, but all attempts were blocked by San Diego’s goalkeeper. The Utes got a corner kick from sophomore midfielder Paola Van Der Veen, but again, didn’t manage to score.
The closest goal for the Utes came from forward junior Natalie Vukic, who took a shot in the 18th minute, but she hit the crossbar. The Utes did find the back of the net, however, they didn’t get the point due to offsides in the 36th minute, keeping the score 0-0 going into halftime.
As second half began, the Utes kept possession over the ball, and they managed to score their first goal of the game in the 49th minute by forward/defender sophomore Hailey Skolmoski, bringing the score to 1-0 in favor of Utah.
After the goal, the Utes kept up the pressure on as they took multiple shots, never letting up on San Diego. As frustration set in, San Diego managed to keep a good pace with Utah, but failed to take any shots of their own.
In an attempt for the second goal of the night, Katie Rogers took a penalty kick in the 60th minute, but she was off target and missed.
Keeping the ball in its control, forward freshman Ella Ballstaedt scored Utah’s second goal of the game, bringing the lead to 2-0.
In the 79th minute, San Diego was yellow-carded for unsportsmanlike behavior for injuring Rogers, and Van Der Veen took her place in the last 10 minutes. Rogers did return to the game in the 84th minute.
With three minutes left in the game, Skolmoski scored her second goal of the game, bringing the lead to 3-0 in the 88th minute.
“Scoring the two of the three goals was awesome,” Skolmoski said. “I couldn’t have done it without my team and we had so much energy. Those goals were really electrifying for the whole team.”
Utah held off San Diego for the rest of the game, and it took the 3-0 win.
“I think we played really well,” Skolmoski said. “We had a lot of hustle and a lot of heart and that is good momentum going into Sunday’s game.”
Up next for the Utes, the team will head to Logan to compete against Utah State on Sunday, Aug. 28, with kickoff at 1 p.m.
“Sunday is going to be a tough game,” Manning said. “[Utah State] got us last year here. We know it’s their opener and it is an in-state game, so there will be a lot of energy and effort, so we have to come back and build on this performance tonight, and try to get another win.”
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