Sept. 3, 2010

Box Score

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Despite a solid first-half effort, the Utah State soccer team was not able to hold off No. 24 Long Beach State, falling 2-1 Friday at George Allen Field in Long Beach, Calif.

The loss was the first of the season for Utah State dropping them to 2-1-1 this season. The 49ers improve to 4-1-0 with the win.

"Long Beach State is a great team. They are ranked No. 24 in the nation, and we knew that we were going to have to be perfect to beat them. We were good, but we weren't perfect. We weathered a lot; they have some special players in the air. I think it is pretty exciting that we played the way we did against such a high caliber opponent," USU head coach Heather Cairns said.

The Aggies came out strong in the first half. In the third minute, freshman forward Mari Miyashiro landed the first shot of the match which was blocked by a LBSU defender. Senior midfielder Stefani Shiozaki had four corner kicks in the first four minutes of action.

The fourth corner kick was the charm, as Shiozaki's kick found freshman midfielder Kendra Pemberton who headed the ball to the lower right corner of the goal. It was the first collegiate goal for Pemberton and the third assist for Shiozaki this season. All of her assists this season have come off of corner kicks.

Junior forward Shantel Flanary ended the first half with three shots on goal to lead the Aggies. The 49ers ended the half out-shooting Utah State 7-6. LBSU goalkeeper Emily Kingsborough also had three saves to two by USU goalkeeper Molli Merrill.

Long Beach State started the second half strong with three corner kicks in the first five minutes of the second half. The 49ers took the first five shots of the half before a Shiozaki shot in the 69th minute.

The 49ers tied the score in the 61st minute. Nadia Link scored her fifth goal of the season off of a pass from Shawna Gordon. The goal was the first allowed by Merrill in over 250 minutes, dating back to the first match of the season against Weber State on Aug. 20.

Long Beach State took the lead in the 76th minute of play when Jenny Soza scored her first goal of the season off the assist by Karina Camacho. The 49ers were able to hold on once taking the lead to preserve the 2-1 lead.

"In the second time they came out and put us on our heels a little bit," Cairns said. "They scored off a set play and kind of caught us off guard. We got a little disorganized. They played their free kick pretty quickly and had someone run behind our back wall, and they snuck her in."

For the match, the 49ers out-shot the Aggies 16-8. Merrill ended the match with four saves, compared to the three by Kingsborough. Utah State remains on the road to take on San Diego State on Sunday, Sept. 5 at 1 p.m. (MT).

Fans can follow USU soccer at http://twitter.com/USUsoccer and Utah State athletics at http://twitter.com/USUAthletics.

GoalTime        Team    Goal Scorer  Assists  Description1.  4:06    USU     Pemberton, Kendra (1)  Shiozaki, Stefani2.  60:55   LBSU    Link, Nadia (5)  Gordon, Shawna3.  75:47   LBSU    Soza, Jenny (1)  Camacho, Karina