A record crowd of 2,027 people, including north of 1,200 members of The HURD, were in attendance for Utah State’s 1-1 draw at Chuck & Gloria Bell Field on Thursday. It not-so-incidentally coincided with the first-ever night game hosted by the Aggies after their field renovations that included stadium lights. A more opportune time for people to show up for a weekday soccer game combined with an in-state opponent made getting close to that record (or even exceeding it as they ended up doing) an almost obvious conclusion.
The game that took place on the re-done surface of Bell Field itself was a mixed bag. On the one hand, Utah State struggled to maintain possession and seemed overwhelmed in the midfield at times. On the other, the Aggies didn’t buckle under that early pressure and even struck first on a 28th-minute goal from sophomore forward Ellie Hendrix.
ELLIE HENDRIX PUTS THE AGGIES ON TOP 😤#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/jnnzRPr5YM
— USU Soccer (@USUSoccer) August 29, 2025
Even with the Utes controlling the ball a lot at times, true scoring chances were pretty rare, even when they had eight corner kicks throughout the game. Utah had just two shots the entire first half, only one being on net and neither being significant tests for goalkeeper Taylor Rath. USU’s ability to seemingly effortlessly hold off the Utes despite not maintaining consistent possession likely played a part in why head coach Manny Martins said the play by his Aggies was “probably the best performance we’ve had all season.”
Ultimately, Utah would find its equalizer in the 73rd minute. A well-place shot from the top corner of the box just inside the near post was able to beat the diving attempt from Rath.
The Aggies mounted a furious push in the final 17 minutes to try and score a goal. Possession once dominated by the Utes was held almost exclusively by Utah State. Several times the Aggies came close to scoring. In fact, in the literal final seconds, Tess Werts found herself on the edge of the six yard box after a header-on from a teammate, but Werts couldn’t corral the ball well enough to put it on frame (though the goal would have been waived off anyway as Werts was offside).
Thursday’s result puts the Aggies at 1-1-2 on the season, and also winless in its last three games following its season-opening victory at Washington State. Although the schedule has featured tough teams, these first four outings haven’t gone as well as hoped, nor have the strengths and weakness of the team been expected (in both good and bad ways).
The Aggies were facing the loss of its entire defensive back line and starting goalkeeper after the end of last season, leading to expectations that the defense would need time to adjust and might go through some rough patches early on. But Utah’s goal in the second half of the fourth game of USU’s season was the first goal its defense has yielded in the run of play (two overall with the other coming on a penalty kick). Utah State ranks 34th in the nation in goals-against average despite having several true freshmen and sophomores playing significant minutes on the back line. Three of the Aggies top five players in minutes — Capriel Winder, Kaeda Wilson and Summer Sofonia — are freshman or sophomore defenders.
“There’s still things that (the younger players are) learning and still places that we can grow,” Hendrix said. “But I think we’ve done a really good job of making up for that with just grit and just working really hard. And I think the new back line, they have done such a good job at just working as hard as they can and the team has kind of rallied around and we’re just doing everything we can.”
Conversely, the offense returned most of its key players, including points leader Tess Werts (eight goals, nine assists in 2024) and other productive offensive players like Kaylie Chambers, Kate Christian, Summer Diamond and Austin Miller. But an offense that averaged 2.6 goals per game last year (sixth in the NCAA) has scored just two goals in four games.
Werts, Chambers, Christian and Diamond all remain scoreless on the year after combining for 25 goals last season.
Martins said his team does “need to be a little bit more clinical” in its finishing, but added that his offense is still doing most of what it needs to and that the goals will eventually be more plentiful.
“We’re creating chances,” Martins said. “After the first three games, we’ve done a really deep (dive) where we are statistically. And everything shows that we’re very strong defensively and that we create a lot of chances. So we now just need to be a little bit more clinical and that comes with time and just get into a rhythm. So I feel like it’s going to come.”
Part of converting chances into goals is making sure those scoring opportunities create shots in the first place. Many of the Aggies’ buildups in recent games have gotten the ball into attacking space but lacked a true attempt at goal. As a result, Utah State ranks 204th (out of 344) in shots per game a year after ranking 23rd in the same category.
Utah State will march further into its annual tour of the Beehive State during non-conference play. As it does essentially every season, the Aggies will play most of the Division I teams in the state of Utah. The Utes were the first and up next is a trip to Provo to take on BYU before returning home to host Weber State. The final leg of these in-state opponent games will be at home against Utah Valley (though the Aggies will play Texas Tech between matches against the Wildcats and Wolverines).
