ON THE PITCH
Utah State soccer (2-7-0, 1-1-0 MW) continues Mountain West play this week with a pair of home matches. The Aggies host Wyoming (6-2-2, 1-1-0 MW) on Friday, Sept. 28, at 4 p.m., followed by Colorado State (3-4-3 0-1-1 MW) on Sunday, Sept. 30, at 1 p.m.
FAN APPRECIATION DAY
Friday will be Fan Appreciation Day for the Utah State soccer match. The first 100 fans in attendance will receive the 2018 edition of the USU soccer scarf. Additionally, a limited amount of free pizza will be available beginning at 3:30 p.m., provided by Firehouse Pizzeria.
WELCOME BACK, AGGIES
Sunday will mark Utah State soccer's annual Alumni Day. All alumni interested in attending should RSVP to assistant coach Molli Sorenson. The returning Aggies will be honored at halftime of the Colorado State match, and will receive a voucher for the concessions stand. At the conclusion of the match, the Aggie alumni will play a pick-up game at Chuck & Gloria Bell Field.
FOLLOW ALONG
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.
COWGIRL QUICK HITS
• Wyoming comes to Logan with a 6-2-2 overall record, having gone 1-1 in the first weekend of Mountain West play. Last weekend, the Cowgirls played on the road, falling to San Diego State, 2-1, before defeating New Mexico, 3-2.
• Senior midfielder Annika Clayton leads the Wyoming offense with three goals on the year, while each of the Cowgirls' eight assists have come from a different player. Junior Christina Salazar has minded the net for the majority of the season, tallying 30 saves while allowing nine goals.
• Wyoming brought six starters and 16 total letterwinners back to the pitch this season after going 8-9-2 in 2017. The Cowgirls also added 10 new players to the roster for the 2018 season.
• Pete Cuadrado is in his seventh season as the head coach at Wyoming, where he has an overall record of 60-53-17. He is in his 16th season as a head coach, with a career record of 153-115-35.
• All-time, Utah State is 7-4-2 against the Cowgirls, including a 4-1-2 record in matches played in Logan. Last season, the Aggies took a 3-1 victory from the Cowgirls in Laramie.
RAM QUICK HITS
• Colorado State enters the weekend with a 3-4-3 overall record, including an 0-1-1 Mountain West ledger. The Rams opened conference play in a 3-0 loss at New Mexico before battling San Diego State to a scoreless draw.
• Junior midfielder Caeley Lordemann is the leading scorer for the Rams with three of the team's five goals. Sophomore forward Taylor Steinke has the only CSU assist on the year. Redshirt junior Hunter Peifer has played the majority of minutes in the net for the Rams, allowing eight goals and tallying 32 saves.
• The Rams returned nine starters and 20 total letterwinners to the roster this season after going 4-10-5 in 2017. The coaching staff added seven players to the team during the offseason.
• Bill Hempen is in his sixth season as the head coach at Colorado State, posting an overall record of 19-71-15. In all, he has been a head coach for 30 years, with a career record of 295-259-59.
• The Aggies and Rams have met every season since the CSU program was created in 2013. Utah State leads the all-time series, 4-1, having dropped its first match to Colorado State in Fort Collins last season.
DOWN TO THE WIRE
Utah State's matches against UNLV and Nevada last weekend both came down to the final seconds of regulation play. The Rebels scored their game-winning goal with 24 seconds left on the clock. Two days later, the Aggies took the thrilling victory with just 11 seconds to play.
GAME ON THE LINE
The Aggies earned a 1-0 win over Nevada on Sept. 23, with a penalty kick goal from sophomore midfielder Ashley Cardozo. It was Utah State's first PK attempt since the 2016 season, when Jessica Brooksby scored on a penalty kick in a 2-1 win against San José State.
THE RAIN TO END THE DROUGHT
With a last-second goal against Nevada, Utah State snapped a four-match scoreless streak. The four shutout matches in a row was the longest scoring drought in program history.
KEEP IT CLEAN
Utah State has had just two cards issued to its players this season. The Aggies have had one yellow card and one red card on the year, the fewest of any Mountain West team.
SEEING DOUBLE
For the first time in program history, Utah State's roster boasts a pair of twins in freshmen Rachel Noel and Sara Noel. According to available research, the Noel sisters are one of 20 sets of twins currently playing Division I soccer together on the same team. The Loyola Chicago and Memphis teams each have two sets of twins playing for the teams. Both Noels started the last two matches for the Aggies, becoming one of 10 sets of twins to start at least one match together.
WHAT WE PLAY FOR
As the winners of the 2017 Mountain West title, San José State will host the 2018 Mountain West Championships. The tournament will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 30, continuing with semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 1, and the championship match on Saturday, Nov. 3. The top six teams in the Mountain West standings will advance to the conference tournament and the winner of the tournament will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
PRESEASON EXPECTATIONS
Utah State was picked seventh in the Mountain West Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league's 12 head coaches. The Aggies earned 64 points in this season's poll. Last season, Utah State finished seventh in the final standings with a 4-5-2 conference record. San Diego State was picked as the favorite to win the league for the sixth year in a row, tallying 112 total points and four first-place votes.
SHE'S TRICKY, TRICKY, TRICKY
Freshman forward Sara Noel recorded the 14th hat trick in program history in Utah State's 5-4 double-overtime loss at Idaho State on Sept. 8. She is the ninth player in USU's history to score a hat trick. Noel's is the first USU hat trick since current junior forward Alecia Robinson had one as a freshman against Sam Houston State in 2016. Of the nine players to score three goals in one game, three have done it during their freshman season, as Noel and Robinson join Brigid Turner in the feat.
HAPPY AT HOME
This weekend's matches are the last of a seven-game homestand for the Aggies, the most consecutive home games in program history. In all, Utah State will play 10 matches at Chuck and Gloria Bell Field this season. The Aggies played 12 games at home in 2012, when Utah State hosted the WAC Tournament, but the 2005 team holds the record with 11 regular-season home matches.
LAST TIME OUT
Utah State posted a 1-1 Mountain West home record last week, falling to UNLV and defeating Nevada in a pair of last-second 1-0 decisions. UNLV scored its game-winning goal with 20 seconds to play, while the Aggies earned the win over Nevada with a penalty kick with 11 seconds left in regulation. Sophomore midfielder Ashley Cardozo scored the lone Aggie goal of the weekend. On the week, USU took 19 shots with nine on goal, while its opponents fired 23 shots with 11 on frame. Senior goalkeeper Grace McGuire played the entirety of both matches, allowing one goal and tallying 10 saves.
UP NEXT
Utah State returns to the road next weekend for a pair of Mountain West matches. The Aggies will play at San Diego State on Friday, Oct. 5, at 8 p.m. (MT), and at New Mexico on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 1 p.m.
