LOGAN – Despite a set of historic accomplishments this season, including hosting an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in program history, the Utah State soccer team didn’t make it any further than the previous three Aggie teams to advance this far. The higher-seeded USU squad lost a penalty shootout to Washington 3-1 after a scoreless 110 minutes of regulation and overtime.
One could argue the Aggies outplayed the Huskies for much of the game, especially late in regulation and in overtime. They outshot the visitors 15-12 and 8-3 in shots on goal. Utah State produced numerous chances during the run of play. But when it came down to finishing those chances, the final perfect touch just wasn’t there. Several shots skimmed the crossbar, or were tipped over by Washington’s goalkeepers.
The second half featured far more of those opportunities. Utah State had just one shot on goal in the first half, the remaining seven came in the second half and overtime.
“We looked at a couple matchups,” USU head coach Manny Martins said of what adjustments he made at halftime. “One was isolating Kate with a right back. It started to create a little bit more for us, but also just a little bit more of attitude. We needed to turn up the volume on some services and just our conviction in the box. And we had some looks in there. just didn’t have the good fortune of one of them going in.”
The Aggies were twice called for offside in situations where they otherwise would have had incredible chances on goal. On another occasion, a handball was called on Tess Werts as she tried to control the ball and begin a breakaway that would have nearly been a one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
“We knew it was going to be a battle of who could defend the box,” said Washington head coach Nicole Van Dyke. “And today, both teams did it exceptionally well.”
Getting past Washington’s defense is something pretty much every team has struggled to do all year. The Huskies have been dominant, ranking 10th in the country at just 0.58 goals allowed per game and owning the second-best save percentage from their goalkeepers. Two of the Huskies keepers saw time in the game. Olivia Juarez played 99 minutes, recording seven saves before leaving the game in overtime due to an injury sustained during a collision in the box. Mia Hamant stepped in and made one save and was the one to take Washington through on penalties.
Although it was the backup goalkeeper for the day who had to step in, Hamant has started 14 games this season with just nine goals against. Van Dyke has all the reason to be confident in her top two keepers and they have confidence in themselves.
“We know that we have quality goalkeeping,” Van Dyke said. “And we knew in a penalty shootout that we had (confidence) and we were going to go out there and do our best.”
According to Van Dyke and her players, Hamant would likely have come in anyway for the penalty shootout, but exactly who was in net for Washington during the penalties didn’t have a ton of impact as Hamant didn’t have to make any saves. Utah State simply wasn’t clinical with its finishing. Three of four kicks went awry. Rine Yonaha hit the upper right corner of the goal, Mia Mullenmeister missed low and to the right and Kylie Olsen skied her kick over the crossbar. Washington hit all three of its penalty attempts, keeping them far out of reach from USU keeper Cora Brendle.
The Aggies have now lost two straight games in the NCAA Tournament, having lost last year to No. 1 seed BYU 2-0 and now this year to Washington. Martins said there is “definitely a difference” between this year’s loss and last year, but not enough of a difference.
“It was a step forward, but not a big enough step forward ’cause we’re not advancing,” Martins said. “We’re moving in the right direction. Big part of it is sports. I think if you really look at it, statistically, and look at the whole of the game, I think we were the team that were more of the aggressors. We just have to not overthink it and just continue to grow, continue to be more clinical.”
For many teams, a season like this could be a peak in the program. The Aggies will have to battle that possibility, especially with numerous fifth-year seniors that were key contributors graduating. But Martins spoke optimistically about the future of the team, noting the numerous young and talented players the Aggies have on the roster. Additionally, with the two straight appearances in the tournament, a new standard has been set for USU soccer.
“We’re graduating some phenomenal players that have been so instrumental in everything We’ve done to this point But we have so many young players,” Martins said. “So the future is very bright. We have some talented players that already contributed so much this year as freshmen.
“We have an incredible class coming in. So we’re excited, because also a big part of it is just owning an identity. We are now a team that, we understand the standard is we’re a tournament team. We’re not just a team that’s just trying to win some games. We’re a tournament team and anyone who comes on board knows that.”
Martins specifically pointed out one of those players, midfielder Summer Diamond who was with Martins in the post-game press conference. Diamond said the youth the team has gives the program “a lot of excitement for these upcoming years.”
“Some of us got to play a lot and that’s great to just get this experience,” Diamond said. “We’re losing the senior class and a lot of leadership roles, but I think each person will step up in their ways that they can and we all want the same thing, and with (Martins’) help and the rest of our coaching staff, I think we’ll be in a really good place.”
