LOGAN — Utah State soccer’s climb into rarified air in Aggie sports history continued this week following the release of the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll. USU moved up once again in the rankings, reaching No. 7.
The first Women’s Soccer RPI of the season was also released this week, the Aggies coming in at No. 13 in those rankings. They stand far ahead of the next-best team in the Mountain West (Boise State at 90th) and are the top team in the state of Utah, ahead of BYU (23rd), Utah (61st), Utah Valley (91st), Utah Tech (149th), Weber State (243rd) and Southern Utah (278th).
Utah State faced a season-first going up against Weber State on Sunday in the Aggies’ first game since defeating Pacific 9-3 on Sept. 8. USU were losing 2-1 early in the first half to the Wildcats after they scored late in the first half to counter USU’s sixth-minute goal and early in the second to take that lead. Prior to that, the Aggies had never trailed against any team this season. That deficit only lasted four minutes, though as Utah State equalized in the 62nd minute and then took the lead in the 63rd minute and netted an insurance goal for good measure to take home a 4-2 win in the only game between the release of the coaches poll.
After giving up a season-high three goals to Pacific and two goals to Weber State, the reality is that the Aggies have a massive target on their backs as teams try for a win over a now top 10 team in the country.
“We’ve been talking to the team about the fact that as the season goes on and we continue to perform, we’re gonna continue to get the best out of teams,” Martins said following the win over the Wildcats. “This team we played today, they didn’t play like their record. They played really well. We weren’t at our best and they came out flying and it presented some problems. That being said, I’m proud of the team. Teams that do well, they tend to find ways to win even when they’re not at their best.”
Utah State will finish its non-conference slate this weekend with a pair of games on Thursday and Sunday. The former will be a home matchup with Washington State (3-3-2, 110th in RPI) and a road contest at Grand Canyon (6-2-1, 94th in RPI).
