Sept. 25, 2003
Stats
Pocatello, ID--Lauren Field and Tracy Stratton scored goals and the Utah Utes limited Idaho State University to just two shots on the day as the Utes defeated the Bengals 2-0 in women's soccer action Thursday afternoon at Davis Field.
Utah, who came into the game ranked 24th in the nation, showed how tough they are, outshooting the Bengals 16-2 in the game. They also took 12 corner kicks to just one for the Bengals.
Despite three very good scoring opportunities in the first 30 minutes, ISU goalkeeper Shannon Boyle was able to keep the Utes out of the goal early. That changed in the 32nd minute. Boyle stopped a shot, which rebounded out of the penalty area. Field picked up the ball and kicked a high ball towards the goal. Boyle got a hand on the ball, but couldn't stop it from going in, giving UU a 1-0 lead.
That was it for the scoring in the first half, a half in which Utah outshot ISU 8-1. It took Utah just 5:31 into the second half to put the game out of reach. Field took a corner kick and put it into the middle of the goal box and Stratton kicked it past Boyle for a 2-0 advantage.
Despite the loss, ISU Head Coach Gordon Henderson was happy with his team's effort.
"I think we did the best job we could right now," Henderson said. "I thought we played with better energy in the second half, which was all I could ask of them. In the first half we kept ourselves in the game and that's important. I talked with Utah's coach (Rich Manning) after the game and I think that both of us would have liked to see us at full strength."
"There's no point in moaning about it. We are where we are and we have to play with what we have. Part of what we've done is refocus our season. We had been putting a lot of emphasis on these four games against ranked teams going into the season, because we felt that this was a season we could really compete with those teams. Now we're going to treat these games as learning experiences for our younger players."
With the loss ISU fell to 4-3-1 on the season, while Utah improved to 7-1. The Bengals will return to action on Friday, October 3 when they travel to Pullman, WA, to face Washington State University at 4:00 p.m.
