LOGAN, Utah — Utah State soccer (9-7-1, 6-2 MW) earned its second-straight shutout win Sunday afternoon, taking down San José State 3-0 at Chuck and Gloria Bell Field.
Behind a brace from freshman forward
Solena Sellers, the Aggies put together one of their strongest all-around outings of the season in the win. USU's three goals were the team's most since the season opener against Weber State, while it put a season-best 11 shots on frame while out-shooting the Spartans 19-13.
"It's always great when you get a shutout and score three goals, but it's awesome when the goals are coming from our game-changers — players that didn't start the game but came in and impacted it," said Utah State head coach
Manny Martins. "We had assists and goals from players that didn't start the game and that shows a little bit of our depth and that's important if we're going to make this into a long season."
Sellers came into the match off the bench in the 29th minute and made an immediate impact. The true freshman netted the first goal of her collegiate debut just six minutes later with a left-footed rocket into the top corner of the goal. Junior forward
Tenzi Knowles and senior midfielder
Alex Day were credited with assists on the strike, their second and first helpers of the season, respectively.
The 1-0 USU lead quickly became a 2-0 lead when in the 41st minute, a throw-in from senior defender
Alysia Butters turned into a perfectly-placed cross from junior midfielder
Rine Yonaha, who found Sellers in front of the net for a header past the keeper. With the brace, Sellers joined freshman midfielder
Summer Diamond as the second Aggie player with a multi-goal game this season.
The Aggies went into the halftime locker room with a 12-5 shot advantage, then saw their lead grow to three goals quickly into the second half when a 53rd minute cross by sophomore forward
Tess Werts errantly deflected off the foot of a San José State player into the back of the net for an own goal.
A total of 24 different Utah State players saw action in the contest, while 10 different Aggies recorded a shot. After being tasked with just one save in 67 minutes of action, graduate keeper
Diera Walton was relieved by sophomore
McKenzie Hunninghake, who recorded four saves in the remaining 23 minutes.
With just three regular season games remaining, Utah State now remains at home to continue its homestand at Chuck and Gloria Bell Field. The Aggies next face UNLV on Thursday, Oct. 19, at 2:30 p.m. The match will be streamed on Mountain West Network, with links to the live stream and stats available on utahstateaggies.com.
Fans can follow the Aggie soccer program on Twitter, @USUSoccer, on Facebook at /USUSoccer and on Instagram, @USUSoccer. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program on Twitter, @USUAthletics, Facebook at /USUAthletics and on Instagram, @USUAthletics.
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