Utah soccer got a late goal from freshman Hailey Skolmoski, her first as a Ute, to earn a draw against Loyola Marymount on Sunday, 2-2.

“Both halves we created a good rhythm and got ket contributions from a bunch of different players,” head coach Rich Manning said. “We just need to keep the ball out of the back of the net. We also created three golden opportunities where we did not score. I thought our players dug deep and despite having some heavy legs, they fought through it."

Seven minutes in, Natalie Vukic put the Utes in front when her shot took a wicked deflection off the out-stretched leg of a LMU defender. It was the sophomore’s second goal of the season and fifth of her career.

Utah continued to press with Baylee Nielsen getting three shots in a minute of game time. At the other end, LMU earned a corner and after Utah cleared the ball, a back pass created a scoring opportunity for the Lions. Shannon Kent capitalized for her second goal of the season.

After the equalizer, Paola van der Veen and Kaycee Buckley forced saves from Sophia Leksan. The LMU defense made it tough for the Utes to get a shot on frame for the next couple of minutes, blocking tries by Buckley, Ali Allen and Skolmoski. Utah out-shot LMU 15-5 during the first 45 minutes.

In the second half, Van der Veen had a couple early looks before the Utah defense successfully defended a pair of LMU corners. However, on the third attempt, the ball was cleared out to Gabbie Sanfilippo who sent it back toward goal. Morgan Hilby was able to get to it before any of the Ute defenders and her header put the Lions ahead 2-1 in the 56th minute.

Buckley forced a save from Sophia Leksan and after Slattery was stopped by Leksan in the 69th minute, LMU came close to adding a third, hitting the post on a shot by Shannon Kent. Utah did not threaten against until the 80th minute when a Vukic cross found the waiting Skolmoski at the far post. The freshman calmly headed it into the net to tie the score.

“I saw that Natalie got by her defender and was going to cross it into the box,” Skolmoski added. “I just saw it coming and was thinking ‘I have to get my head to this.’ Then when it went in, I was excited and really thought we were going to win the game.”

Leksan and Luke kept their respective teams in the match with the LMU goalkeeper making three saves and the Ute backstop stopping two in the final 10 minutes.

Utah almost had the winner in the first overtime but Taylor Slattery was dispossessed in the penalty area on a sliding tackle. The junior also created and opportunity with a tantalizing cross that no Utah player could get on the end of.

Skolmoski almost had the game-winner in the second overtime but was denied by Leksan. In the two overtimes, Utah out-shot the Lions, 6-0 and had three corner-kicks.

“We are trying to build from the back to create shots and get goals,” Skolmoski said. “We created opportunities and it is something we will keep working on.”

Utah opens Pac-12 play next Friday when it hosts No. 6 Stanford at 4 p.m. This contest also serves as the annual Ute Proud game.

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