In game one of a three-game homestand that begins on Sunday, Aug. 20, the University of Utah soccer team will officially open its regular season with a match against South Dakota State on the Ute Soccer Field.
The Utes earned a 3-0 victory in their preseason match against Weber State. Junior Eden Jacobsen believes that win has set them up to start the season on a positive note. She added that she wants to take each game one at a time and play in the moment, but she also wants to continue to build off her team’s preseason match. If the Utes are able to do so, Jacobsen is positive her team will continue to improve.
Head coach Rich Manning is looking forward to working this season with a new team and he knows the feeling is mutual. Manning knows his girls have been wanting to get back on the field. They’ve showed their eagerness to be back on their stomping grounds throughout the duration of preseason camp. With a new season almost officially underway, Manning is curios to see how far his team will be able to go this year.
“We got some really good evaluation and feedback from our meetings last Saturday in our practice game,” Manning said. “We are going to work on some things this week and see if we can put it on against South Dakota State on Sunday.”
Junior Hailey Skolmoski agreed with her coach that the team is ready to get out on the field and see what it has to offer, but she knows that everything it has to bring to the table won’t all happen and be shown at once. There are things Utah is still trying to figure out when it comes to where players fit and where their chemistry stands.
“We take every game the same way,” Skolmoski said. “We focus on the things we can improve on and the things we do well. Especially with teams we don’t know as well, we just go into the game and as the game goes on, we make adjustments based on how they are playing and how we are playing. Pretty much we are just trying to focus on our strengths and abilities and go from there.”
This will be the first meeting between Utah and South Dakota State, which means Utah has no previous playing knowledge of its opponent, and it can only go off of what it has seen on film.
From what Manning has watched and gathered, South Dakota State is one of the best teams in its league and it has been a team that has gone to the NCAA Tournament — including last year — and has done well for itself. Even though the Jackrabbits are from a smaller conference compared to Utah, Manning believes they have a solid program and his team will not take the match lightly.
“By reputation, [South Dakota State] is really organized as a team,” Manning said. “They have some really dangerous players up front so I think it will be similar to the Weber State game in that we are going to have to break through a really organized defense and prevent their breakouts.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.
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