The Utah women’s soccer team faced off against the USC Trojans at Ute Field this Friday, Sept. 22. The match was featured as a prime part of homecoming weekend and saw Ute soccer alums gain free entry to the match. Despite the match being closely contested with each team putting up 12 shots, the Utes surrendered two goals to the Trojans and lost the game 2-0. The Utes fall to 4-3-3 for the year while the Trojans advance to 5-2-0.
The Trojans started off the match hot, as just seven minutes into the match junior forward Kayla Colbert sneaked a ball past Utah goalie Evelyn Vitali to make the score 1-0. The goal was her fourth of the season, already passing her goal total from her sophomore season. The Utes followed up by playing very aggressively, which proved to be a disadvantage for them. Five Ute players recorded a foul in the first half, but all avoided bookings.
Seeing the Utes’ change in style, USC made an early substitution, putting in midfielder Keely Roy in the 33rd minute. This proved to be a crucial substitution as just four minutes later, a pass from Roy to defender Zoe Burns led to the second USC goal of the half.
Trailing 2-0 at halftime, Utah needed to adopt a more aggressive approach in the second half to seize an opportunity for victory and to avoid crucial penalties that would slow down their play. Unfortunately for the Utes, the Trojan defense was prepared for their halftime adjustments. The Utes were unable to get a shot off until the 63rd minute when Utah sophomore Kelly Bullock was unable to put the ball past USC goalie Hannah Dickinson.
The Trojan defense was too much for the Utes. Utah was called for offsides three times in the second half and was unable to get anything going.
Although the Utes were unable to win their first Pac-12 matchup, they will be looking to rebound against the Oregon State Beavers for their first in-conference away game of the season. The matchup will be played on Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. MDT.
