HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Utah State's soccer team officially opened the 2018 campaign with a 2-0 setback at Sam Houston State in a non-conference match Thursday evening at Pritchett Field.
"We wish it would have gone a little different, but the reality is, it was really our first time playing 11 with substitutions and getting a lot of injured players back," said veteran Utah State head coach
Heather Cairns. "We started off really strong. Kanyan (Ward-Merrill) had one ball cleared off the line, Ashley (Cardozo) had the upper 90, and then to start the second half, we had one hit the post, so we were knocking on the door."
Both of the Bearkats' goals came in the second half. Sammi Mayock opened the scoring in the 50th minute with a header off of a pass from Bailey Strong. Sam Houston State made it 2-0 in the 83rd courtesy of an unassisted goal by Lindsey Bienski.
"Unfortunately, we made some critical mistakes in set pieces," Cairns said. "Both of their set-piece goals actually started with us having possession, and us taking the free kicks. That was a little bit tricky, but our possession was good, so that's a real step forward, and our defending in the run of play was good. We have to get better at unlocking the attacking third, for sure. There is a lot to build on with that."
Especially when you consider the Aggies' starting lineup consisted of just two seniors and two juniors, five sophomores and two freshmen.
"The inexperience showed a little bit, but we are just going to get better as we go along," Cairns said. "I was really pleased with our possession and defending in the run of play. Those were two bright spots, but we do have to get a little more purposeful with the possession to break things down a little bit. There was a lot of learning that happened today."
Goalkeepers
Grace McGuire, a senior, and
Marren Nielsen, a freshman, split time in the net for the Aggies (0-1-0, 0-0-0 Mountain West). McGuire started and played the first half, but did not record a save, while Nielsen recorded three saves, but allowed both goals after intermission.
Christina Hendershot recorded the shutout for Sam Houston State (1-0-0, 0-0-0 Southland) as the senior recorded seven saves. She played all 90 minutes for the Bearkats.
Utah State outshot Sam Houston State 13-12, including an 8-2 edge in the first half alone. However, the Bearkats peppered Nielsen to the tune of 10 shots during the final 45 minutes.
Cardozo led the Aggie attack with a team-high five shots, including four on goal. Freshman
Hallee Jones recorded three shots for Utah State, which had one more corner kick (3-2) than Sam Houston State.
Thursday's match was a homecoming of sorts for senior defender
Jaylen Hinckley, who is a native of College Station, Texas, which is 60 miles west of Huntsville. Hinckley played 80 minutes of the match.
The Aggies are now 12-11 all-time in their season-opening matches. Utah State will host Big Ten-foe Minnesota in its home opener on Sunday, Aug. 19, at 1 p.m. at Chuck & Gloria Bell Field.
All regular-season home and Mountain West matches will continue to be broadcast as a USU Athletics Production on the Mountain West Network. All video feeds will be available live and in archive form at utahstateaggies.com/watch. Live stats and play-by-play information will be available through SIDEARM, while updates will also be provided through the team's social media outlets. Links to each option will be available online prior to every match.
Fans can follow Utah State soccer on Twitter, @USUSoccer, on Instagram, @USUSoccer, as well as on Facebook, at /USUSoccer. Aggie fans can also follow Utah State Athletics on Twitter, @USUAthletics, on Instagram, @USUAthletics and on Facebook at /USUAthletics.
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