It came down to double overtime on Sunday night before the University of Utah soccer team (4-1-0) eventually walked away with a 2-1 victory over Cal State Fullerton (3-1-2) to give it its first loss of the season. Utah midfielder Paola Van der Veen came up big for her team as she scored the tying and winning goals. Van der Veen has scored four total goals in the past three contests now.
“It was a pretty amazing feeling,” Van der Veen said. “It wasn’t a very easy game, it was raining all night, but when I saw the cross coming, I knew I had an opportunity on the ball and I was excited to be able to put it in the back of the net.”
After clearing a corner kick, the Utes were looking for an offside flag when the Titans got a shot off resulting in a goal to take a 1-0 lead in the 63rd minute. Three minutes later, a foul was called on Cal State Fullerton. Van der Veen had a free kick that was shot right into the back of the net to tie the match at 1-1.
“We just kept believing in ourselves,” Van der Veen said. “We had some good opportunities and a good free kick near post, and I knocked it down and we took that energy going into overtime and knew it was win or nothing and we got the win.”
Utah had three more chances to pull ahead in regulation, but midfielder Haylee Cacciacarne’s header went wide and forward Hailey Skolmoski, who had two opportunities to score, missed both shots wide.
In the first overtime, the Utes had one shot. Defender Natalee Wells hit a corner kick that forward Natalie Vukic tried to capitalize on, but her shot went high. The scored remained tied after time expired, leading to a double overtime. It didn’t take long for the Utes to get on the scoreboard as they scored two minutes into the second overtime. Van der Veen connected on a cross from midfielder Eden Jacobsen to seal the win for the Utes.
Cal State Fullerton was unable to get any shots off in both overtimes. The Titans had 12 total shots with two on goal. Of the 14 total shots taken by the Utes, five of them were on goal. Van der Veen had three shots on goal, while midfielder Max Flom and forward Ella Ballstaedt both had one.
For Utah head coach Rich Manning, it was resiliency and mental toughness that he saw from his team that stood out to him over the course of the match.
“Fullerton did a lot of good things,” Manning said. “And unfortunately they scored a goal first, but we fought back and we were able to score a goal to win.”
The Utes will continue their four-game road trip with a visit down south for game three to face in-state rival BYU on Friday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.
“It’s always a charged environment, and we will be ready for another great team,” Manning said.
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