UTAH TECH UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE | March 29, 2024

DSU womens soccer wins, loses late

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The Dixie State University women’s soccer team both won and lost nail-biters this weekend as they battled a couple of in-state foes.

The Trailblazers won 1-0 at Westminster College Tuesday and lost 3-2 in a heartbreaker to SUU Saturday.

DSU started the week off with a game at Westminster College Tuesday. After giving up three goals in its previous game against Sonoma State University, DSU’s defense had a much stronger showing. 

The first half of the Westminster game was an offensive stalemate as both teams entered halftime tied at 0-0. The Trailblazers had one shot on goal in the first half. 

“We came out pretty slow,” said junior defender Montana Hadley, an accounting major from Bountiful. “We were able to get it together in the second half and dominate the half.”

The defense continued to hold strong as the time left in the game began to dwindle. Still tied at 0, redshirt freshman defender Kilee Lamb had a good shot at the game’s first goal but was denied by the WC goalie. Junior forward Darian McCloy also misfired minutes later, and the game remained tied with under five minutes to go.

With time running out, Hadley had an opportunity to take the lead with a free kick. She was stopped by the goalie, but McCloy was there for the rebound and put back with under four minutes to play. The defense held off the Griffins attempt to tie, and the Trailblazers walked away with a 1-0 win.

“We were happy with the win,” said head coach Kacey Bingham. “We weren’t as happy with our performance. We still have things to fix before we begin conference play.”

DSU then traveled to Cedar City on Saturday to continue the in-state rivalry with Southern Utah University.

After 40 minutes of first half play, the game looked very similar to the one against WC with defense dominating the play.

The Thunderbirds got on the board in the 41st minute. DSU proceeded to fire back 34 seconds later as senior midfielder Megan Spencer tied the game off an assist from Lamb.

DSU was quick to take its first lead of the game as McCloy scored a goal just four minutes into the final half of play. 

Following the goal by McCloy, neither team could find the net until SUU connected on the tying goal with under 15 minutes to play. With both teams digging deep to find a way to put in a goal and take a decisive lead, it was SUU who came through, scoring in the 86th minute.

Down 3-2, DSU mounted one final push to tie, but came up short. 

[Through 75 minutes], we had possession, and we played very well,” said Spencer, an exercise science major from Springville. “[SUU] is a good team. They always give us a good battle, but we came out with a lot of heart and weren’t able to finish.”

Coach Bingham did say there were some positives to take away from the SUU game like the intensity and focus. 

“I think we dominated most of the game,” said Hadley, an accounting major from Bountiful. “It’s just hard when you can dominate most of the game but not come out on top.”

DSU opens conference play Thursday at Azusa Pacific University at 7:30 p.m.

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