Dixie State controlled possession for the majority of its game against Real Salt Lake Women’s Semi Pro Team in a 4-0 win Saturday night.
Junior midfielder Aubri Detmer, a nursing major from Austin, Texas, scored early on in the fourth minute on DSU’s first shot of the game. Senior forward Jasmine Arollo, an integrated science major from Glendale, Arizona, assisted Detmer’s goal as DSU went up 1-0 almost immediately.
“In practice this week, we’ve been focusing a lot on our finishing, but we need to be able to put them away,” Detmer said. “I’ve been getting in extra practice [with finishing] and practicing on my own, too.”
Arollo scored next for DSU in the 47th minute. Arollo was unassisted, splitting two defenders on her way to a breakaway opportunity that led to a goal.
DSU went into halftime with a 2-0 lead and leading 8-0 in shots. Senior goal keeper Stacie Gubler from Las Vegas, never had to make a save because the DSU defense did not allow a shot on goal during the entire first half.
DSU switched goal keepers to start the second half, opting to put sophomore Danica Nusink from Springville in the net instead of continuing to use Gubler. Nusink ended up facing five shots, stopping all of them.
Arollo scored her second unassisted goal of the game in the 66th minute. After intercepting a pass from an RSL midfielder, Arollo got a shot off which beat the goalkeeper to put DSU up 3-0.
Arollo scored her third goal of the game, also known as a hat trick in the 75th minute, getting an assist from sophomore forward Courtney Fryer from Spanish Fork. It was Arollo’s first career hat trick. She ended up recording four points total, coming in the way of three goals and one assist.
“[I prepare] for every game by watching videos of different kind of moves I can do,” Arollo said. “I make sure I’m focused on practice and I’m always the first to get to warm ups. I thought this game was going to be harder, but this was probably one of the easiest we’ve played.”
DSU’s next two opponents finished first and second in the Pacific West Conference last season. DSU plays Azusa Pacific University at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 24 at home, a team that won the PacWest Championship a year ago. The next game after APU is Sept. 26 against Point Loma at 10 a.m. at home. PLU finished last season as runners-up in the PacWest Conference.
“The next two games are definitely going to be a challenge,” Arollo said. “[APU and PLU] were the top two teams in conference last season, and last year we played them close, but they played better than us. This year should be better competition for us.”
DSU improved its record to 3-2 on the season and are going to try and win against two teams that both Arollo and Detmer said will be a challenge.
“I think the pressure will be hard versus [APU] and [PLU],” Detmer said. “They are the top two teams [in the PacWest], and they are our first two [conference] games. They will be a challenge, so we need to prepare and practice hard.”
DSU out-shot RSL Women’s Semi Pro Team 14-5, and six of DSU’s 14 shots came from Arollo. She had more goals and more shots than any other single DSU player.
