BOISE, Idaho — Utah State soccer (10-6-5, 5-2-3 MW) won an overtime thriller to punch its ticket to its third-straight Mountain West Tournament championship game Wednesday night at the Boas Soccer Complex in Boise, defeating 2-seed Air Force 1-0 in the semifinal round.
The Aggies used 97th minute heroics from sophomore midfielder Rachel Reitz, who scored the golden goal off of a corner kick sent into the box by graduate midfielder Rine Yonaha. After a single touch by freshman forward Kunie Hirai, who scored the team's lone goal in the quarterfinal round win over New Mexico, Reitz connected with a right-footer past the keeper. This was the first goal of Reitz's career.
In a game which began as a defensive battle, the sides combined for just four total shots with a single shot on goal in the first half of action. Utah State seemingly broke through in the 73rd minute when a foul called just outside of the 18-yard box resulted in a free kick, which was delivered cleanly into the top corner of the net by Yonaha. After the fact, however, a review of the foul was allowed which wiped the Aggie goal off the board.
Utah State held Air Force without a single shot on goal in the contest, out-shooting the Falcons 17-6 in total with a 6-0 advantage in shots on frame.
SCORING SUMMARY
70:48 - Rachel Reitz (USU)
Assist: Rine Yonaha
UTAH STATE HEAD COACH MANNY MARTINS:
"This was a battle. Air Force came out to compete. They wanted to advance as well, and they put up a good fight. I'm really proud of the resilience of our group, and I honestly feel like what our season has been like, with the ups and downs of performance, injuries and what not, has led us to build some resilience that helped us get through this game. There were some moments that led to emotions, so to be able to come back from that and stay focused and be able to get a goal there in overtime was big time. So I'm really proud of the group.
MATCH NOTES
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Utah State will now have the opportunity to play for its fifth conference tournament title in program history (WAC 2011, 2012; MWC 2023, 2024).
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With the win, Utah State is now 9-4-2 all-time in Mountain West Tournament matches, including a 7-1-1 mark under head coach Manny Martins.
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This was the first overtime win for Utah State since a 1-0 win over Boise State in the 2023 MW Tournament semifinals.
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Utah State out-shot Air Force 17-6 overall, including six shots on goal to zero.
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Utah State has now had as many or more shots than its opponent in 19 of 21 games this season.
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Rine Yonaha took a team-high four shots, including one on frame.
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Rachel Reitz' goal was the first of both her season and career.
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Yonaha's assist was the 16th of her career, and fifth of the season.
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With 16 career assists, Yonaha now sits alone at seventh in program history in career assists.
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Utah State took 11 corners, while limiting Air Force to just three.
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Junior goalkeeper Allee Grashoff made her third start of the season and played all 90 minutes in goal for Utah State.
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This was the ninth shutout of the season for Utah State.
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With the win, Utah State improves to 10-5-3 all-time against Air Force, with a 2-0-1 record in neutral site games against the Falcons.
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Should Utah State win in the title match, it would become just the third team to ever three-peat as Mountain West Tournament champions and the first to do so since San Diego State won four-straight from 2012-15.
UP NEXT
Utah State (10-6-5, 5-2-3 MW) will now move on to the Mountain West Tournament championship match where it will face the winner of 1-seed Boise State and 4-seed San Diego State on Saturday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. The match will also be played at Boas Soccer Complex, and will be streamed on Mountain West Network.
FOLLOW
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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