On the field of Greater Zion Stadium, the Utah Tech University women’s soccer team returned to home turf March 29 against Weber State University in a scrimmage. After the 90-minute game, the match ended on a Trailblazer loss with a score of 1-2.
The last game played against Weber ended in a tie in August 2024, and the team came prepared for a fight in the second game of the season.
UT goalkeeper, Brianna Frey, a junior management major from Salt Lake City, made a series of saves in the first half of the game that prevented Weber from scoring. Frey ended last year’s season with a total of 91 saves and an average of 79% saved.
The score remained 0-0 early in the first half, but both teams were battling to get ahead of the other.
In the game’s opening 15-20 minutes, UT created several scoring chances, but the players were unable to finish them, hitting posts and sending the ball wide into corners.
Weber opened the scoring midway through the half, bringing the score up 0-1. The Trailblazers didn’t let this shake their confidence, and Frey blocked a free kick made by Weber after a foul was called on UT.
The team’s energy remained through the rest of the first half and before halftime UT turned a corner kick into a goal, bringing the score to a tie.
Although they ended the previous half on a strong note, the Trailblazers lost some of their energy late in the second half of the game. Frey said the second half was comparatively rough for the team.
“We felt content with the way we played first half,” Frey said. “Overall, I think a lot of things were out of our control, but still we need to not let that get to us… and keep that energy up.”
The Trailblazers maintained the tied score well into the later portion of the second half until Weber scored against them, bringing the score up to 1-2 where it stayed for the remainder of the game.
Coach Lexi Brown said the team spoke after the game about the importance of following through and finishing off opportunities on chances of scoring.
“Just being clinical in that first 15 minutes really would have changed the outcome of that game,” Brown said. “It felt like we kind of settled for ‘OK those chances are going to come’ when we weren’t able to sustain that because we couldn’t put those away early.”
Though the scrimmage games do not count against the Trailblazers, they are a great opportunity to get good practice in and see how they stack up against other players.
Lacy Fox, a junior management major from Highland, plays forward and finished last year’s season with an impressive 18 points. She agreed that while the first half went well, the second half could have gone better.
“I think there were moments where we were doing good things and working as a unit, and then there were other moments where we had a hard time connecting and keeping the ball,” Fox said.
This game was just a piece of the practice the Utah Tech women’s soccer team has put in, and the next game against Southern Utah University April 12 will give them more chances to improve before their season next fall.
