Utah State Soccer Loses Heartbreaker to BYU, 1-0, Thursday   

The Aggies drop their first match against an in-state opponent this season.

 

PROVO, UTAH - The road continues to be a tough place for the Utah State women's soccer team, as the Aggies' fell to BYU, 1-0, Thursday in Provo. The Cougars managed a second-half goal to stop the Aggies.

 

Utah State has now lost three-straight matches and falls to 8-3-0 this season. It is the first time since 2009 that the Aggies have been shut out in three-straight matches. BYU has now won two-straight matches and improves to 6-3-2 this year. The Cougars dominated Western Athletic Conference foe Idaho, 5-0, on Tuesday.

 

The Aggies are now 2-1 against teams from the Beehive State this season with wins against Weber State and Utah. 

This was the closest match between Utah State and BYU since the Cougars defeated the Aggies, 2-1, in 2007 in Provo. BYU is now 9-0-0 against the Aggies since the two teams first met in 1996.

 

"We lost on a goal off of a corner kick which was well executed by BYU's All-American center back Lindsi Lisonbee. Despite the goal, we played some really good soccer tonight. We created good opportunities. We a had good push at the end and had them on their heels, but just couldn't poke one in," USU head coach Heather Cairns said. 

 

Utah State was without starter Mari Miyashiro for the fourth-straight match due to injury.

 

The Aggies and the Cougars played to a 0-0 tie in the first 45 minutes of action. BYU out-shot Utah State, 7-3. The Aggies' shots came from sophomore midfielders Kersey Davis and Jennifer Flynn along with freshman forward Lauren Roundy.

 

In the 72nd minute, BYU struck to take a 1-0 lead. After a corner kick by Jessica Ringwood, Lindsi Lisonbee gave the Cougars the lead with a shot that got past USU senior goalkeeper Molli Merrill.

 

In the second half, the Aggies would not give up, fighting down to the last second. With less than a minute remaining, Utah State earned a corner kick that was taken by sophomore midfielder Kendra Pemberton. Senior midfielder Chandra Salmon-Christensen got a shot that sailed high.

 

For the match, BYU out-shot Utah State, 12-7. The Aggies had only one shot on goal for the match. Merrill did lead the match with three saves to one by BYU's McKinzie Olson. The Aggies as a team added one more save to give USU four for the match.

 

Utah State is back in action on Sunday, Sept.  25, taking on former WAC foe, Boise State on the road at 1 p.m. The Aggies now have two matches remaining on this treacherous five-match road trip.

 

Fans can follow USU soccer on Twitter at http://twitter.com at USU Soccer and Utah State Athletics at USUAthletics. 

 

Aggie fans can follow can the match this weekend through the USU web site at www.UtahStateAggies.com via GameTracker, a free service, which updates play-by-play and statistics throughout the game. 

 

 

 

-USU-