The University of Utah soccer team won their fourth straight game against Oregon State University. The offense clicked and Carly Nelson stayed solid in a 2-0 victory.
Utah scored both of their goals early in the game, and within the first fifteen minutes of play, they had a two-goal lead.
In the seventh minute of the game, Ireland Dunn sent a pass to McKayla Christensen, who slid the ball over to senior Paola Van der Veen who was able to slot the ball past Beaver goalkeeper Lindsay Lamont for the first goal of the game. This goal was Van der Veen’s sixth of the season, which leads the team.
The second goal came less than five minutes later when Dunn stoked the ball from an Oregon State player and broke away, prompting a one on one battle between her and the opposing keeper. This was Dunn’s fourth goal of the season, coming in just behind Van der Veen in goals scored.
“We started the game with fantastic energy and commitment and were rewarded with a pair of goals,” head coach Rich Manning said to Utah Athletics. “The attackers did a great job of finishing. Ireland and Po have played at a high level during conference play and it continued today. Makayla also did a great job of holding up the play and finding teammates.”
The Utes controlled the ball for most of the game and outshot the Beavers 12-1. Although they weren’t able to score again, they held Oregon State scoreless.
In the goal, Utah’s junior keeper Carly Nelson had her fourth straight shutout. This was her sixth of the season, the twelfth of her career.
Nelson was recently named the Pac-12 goalkeeper of the week. She is currently leading the league in save percentage, with .909, and she is second with 59 saves. She also ranks third in the conference with an average of .57 goals against.
This shutout marked the first time that Utah has gone four games in a row without giving up a goal since they joined the Pac-12 in 2011. The last time they did this was in 2006 when they upheld a nine game streak.
Since joining the Pac-12 eight seasons ago, Utah has not lost a home game to the Beavers.
In their next Pac-12 appearance, Utah will face No. 1 Stanford in Palo Alto on Oct. 18 at 5 p.m. PT.
