The Weber State University women’s soccer team faltered away to Utah State University, losing 2–1 in Logan on Sept. 11 to bring their overall record to 4–3.
Under the lights at the Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field, Weber “came out slow” in the first half, according to head coach Kyle Christensen. With a singular shot on goal to USU’s 13, the opening 45 minutes saw no goals and was the “poorest half,” Christensen said, that the Wildcats have played this season.
Despite this, Weber freshman goalkeeper Lauren Butorac stopped a game-high four shots, all of which came in the first half and shut out the Aggies initially.
Weber came out of the gate in the second half with improved intensity and precision. However, their momentum was halted by two Utah State goals in under 5 minutes from senior forward Kaylie Chambers and sophomore forward Mia Mullenmeister.
Just past the hour mark at minute 65, Chambers connected with senior forward Tess Werts’ pullback from the right flank in the center of the box and sidefooted the ball into the net.
In minute 67, freshman midfielder Hadli Barrera chipped the ball over the Wildcats’ defensive line with the outside of her foot for Mullenmeister, who stretched to send her right-footed, one-touch finish into the bottom-left corner of the goal and double the Aggies’ lead.
However, Utah State had no clean sheet in store on the night. Weber senior forward Sayler Schlosser made her mark in front of the goal in minute 88, skipping past USU senior goalkeeper Taylor Rath and finishing into an empty net. Wildcat junior defender Lily Blum’s long pass to Schlosser was problematic for the Aggies’ defense, and the Weber striker made no mistake.
Nevertheless, the push proved too little, too late for Weber, and they came up short of the comeback. Schlosser is only motivated by this result and believes more growth will come for her team based on what she has already seen.
“After coming off a hard season last year, losses like this mean something more,” Schlosser said. “Our record has already been so much better this season, so I think coming off a close loss like this against a really good team is eye-opening. We learn from it and we just grow and attack the rest of the season.”
Christensen shares such sentiments and plans to bring success to the team, a group he believes is “at the level it needs to be.”
“We’ll look at film and we’ll improve in certain areas,” Christensen said. “We’ll always try to transition quickly and get the goals as quick as we can, but then we have to have the maturity to notice the moments when it is time to control and pass and wait for the right moment. That second half, we came out and we looked super sharp. I was very proud of how they played at the beginning of the second half.”
Next up for the Wildcats is a return home to Wildcat Field, where they will host Utah Valley University on Sept. 15.
