Upcoming Event: Soccer at TCU on September 19, 2025 at 6 p.m.
6 p.m.
Soccer
at TCU
Utah Soccer Hosts Pair Of MWC Contests This Week
10/6/2008 12:00 AM | Soccer
Oct. 6, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah women's soccer team (4-7-2, 0-1-0) hosts a pair of Mountain West Conference matches this week as San Diego State (4-6-2, 0-1-0) and UNLV (9-3-1, 1-0-0) come to Salt Lake City Thursday, Oct. 9 and Saturday, Oct. 11. Both games will kick off at 7 p.m.
The Utes are looking to bounce back from a 5-0 home defeat at the hands of BYU last Saturday. The Utes are now 2-3-1 at home on the year after suffering their first conference loss at home since 2004. Utah is 3-3 on the year in matches that follow a loss.
In the all-time series against San Diego State, Utah holds a 10-3-2 advantage, including a 3-2-1 mark at home. The last time the two teams met, Utah claimed a 2-1 victory in Salt Lake City. After 68 minutes of scoreless play, Adele Letro put the Utes up in the 69th minute, but the 1-0 lead was erased at the 79:43 mark by a Utah own goal. Kelly Isleib delivered the game-winner with less than two minutes remaining, scoring her only goal of the year.
Utah is 5-0-1 in the last six regular-season matchups against the Aztecs. Including the postseason, the Utes are 6-0-2 in their last eight meetings. Utah has not lost to SDSU since 2001, a 2-1 overtime decision, the year before Rich Manning became head coach of the Utes.
Against UNLV, the Utes boast an 8-3-3 all-time record with a 4-1-2 mark at Ute Field. In their last meeting, UNLV ended Utah's 2007 season with a 2-1 victory in the MWC Tournament in Provo, Utah. Their last regular-season tilt ended in a 2-2 draw in Las Vegas. Utah has not lost to the Rebels in the regular season since 2004, posting a pair of 1-0 wins to go with last year's draw.
Scouting The San Diego State Aztecs...
San Diego State is coming off of a 0-0 draw with Loyola Marymount and a 3-1 loss to UNLV in San Diego last weekend.
The Aztec offense is led by Cat Walker's four goals and one assist for nine points. Heather Vandevanter and Jessica Gordon have also hit the back of the net three times for SDSU, adding three more assists between them.
Defensively, SDSU looks to Aubree Southwick and her 1.58 goals against average to be its last line of defense between the pipes. Southwick has made 44 saves on the year while conceding 19 goals.
The Aztecs are coached by Mike Friesen. Now in his second year at the helm for SDSU, he owns a 13-14-5 record, following last year's 9-8-3 campaign. Friesen brought back seven starters and 17 letterwinners from his inaugural squad. This year's team has found success at home, going 3-1-1, but is 1-4-0 away from the SDSU Sports Deck.
Scouting The UNLV Rebels...
The UNLV Rebels are the defending regular-season MWC champions and have started 2008 in the same form, defeating San Diego State, 3-1, in their last action. Of their three losses on the year, two have come on the road. Overall, the Rebels are 3-2-1 in true road matches this year and also hold a 2-0 record in neutral-site contests.
Ashleigh Shoughro, named the MWC Co-Offensive Player of the Week Monday, leads the Rebel attack with seven goals and four assists for 18 points. Two of her goals have been game-winning strikes. Brianna Moore is the second-leading scorer with five goals and one assist, while Amanda Forrester has chipped in with four goals and two helpers.
Defensively, Alicia Lugo has seen the bulk of the action between the pipes for UNLV and has allowed just nine goals while making 37 saves. Lugo has held five clean sheets on the year.
Katherine Mertz is now in her fourth year as the head coach of the Rebels and has run her career record to 42-26-12 (.600). She brought back six starters and 11 letterwinners from the 2007 conference championship squad, which posted an 11-5-5 record, including a 5-1-1 MWC mark.
Conference Roundup...
The first week of conference play saw the standings go largely unchanged at the top and bottom of the table, with some reshuffling in the middle. TCU remained the MWC's top team with a 9-1-1 overall record, winning its first conference tilt against New Mexico, 3-1. Utah and Air Force are currently the bottom two teams at 0-1-0. For purposes of the conference race, overall records now mean very little, as the standings likely will change dramatically from here out, with all of the conference teams knocking each other off.
From The Mind Of Manning...
Quotes from Utah head coach Rich Manning regarding his squad, this week's opponents and other items of note:
On this week's games: "I think after Saturday's loss it is important for us to get back on the field as soon as possible and get an opportunity to be better. I expect our team will be hungry, committed to the game and paying attention to the details.
"It will be good to get back out on our home field and play two teams that are definite contenders for the conference championship. This will be another good test for us, not only of our playing ability, but our mental toughness as well."
On being more consistent:
"One of the biggest lessons this team is learning is the importance of consistency over 90 minutes of play. Looking at the Washington and BYU games, we have been giving up goals in bunches. We need to do a better job of getting through the rough patches in games and being able to stop the bleeding and get back to playing our game."
On the squad's improvement over the season:
"One of the biggest questions up in the air right now is `where are we as a team?'. We need to find out if Saturday's loss was the result of our opponent being on their game along with some other factors, or if we really just need to take a long look in the mirror and realize that's the team we are. I think this weekend will go a long way toward learning some of those answers."
Turpen Plays First Collegiate Minutes...
Freshman goalkeeper Hannah Turpen played the second half of the BYU game in goal for the Utes, making one save in the first collegiate action of her career.
A high school standout from San Clemente, Calif., Turpen was named an EA Sports High School All-American and the California State Defensive Player of the Year in 2008.
Islieb Still The Utes' Top Scorer...
Junior midfielder Kelly Isleib has netted the game-winning goal in three of Utah's four victories this year, most recently in a 1-0 road victory against Cal Poly, Sept. 28. The Park City, Utah, native is still in the top 10 in the MWC rankings in goals and goals per game. Her three game-winners are currently the third-most from any player in the MWC.
Isleib will be looking to score against San Diego State for the second straight year when the Utes face the Aztecs Thursday. Last year, Isleib tallied her only goal of the season against SDSU, scoring the game-winner in a 2-1 affair with less than two minutes remaining on the clock.
Isleib entered the year needing just six helpers to become the all-time career leader in assists at Utah. She already stands in third place in that category with 17, and is chasing the career mark of 22 held by Amanda Feigt (2003-06). Last year she set a new school record for assists in a single season, dishing out 13.
Porter Leads Young Back Line...
Freshman defender Lauren Porter has been one of the most consistent players anywhere on the field for Utah this year. Following the Cal Poly game, Manning mentioned that she "was fantastic today" and that "she was repelling attack after attack and really made a difference out there." Porter now hopes to lead a Utah defense that features one other freshman and two sophomores back to the defensive form it held prior to the 5-0 loss to BYU.
Earlier this year, she scored her first career goal, heading in a Katy Reineke corner kick, tallying the eventual game-winner against Long Beach State. Porter has done a good job getting forward for the Utes on corners and set pieces, coming up with several close calls offensively before finally netting one.
Only a freshman, Porter has started all 13 games this season for the Utes at center-back. In fact, she has played every second of the more than 1,000 minutes the Utes have spent on the field this year, including all five overtime games.
Reineke And Hair On The Cusp...
Senior forward Katy Reineke has yet to score in the run of play this year, but it has not been for lack of effort. Reineke is the leading shot-taker on the team and tied for fifth-most shots taken in the conference, pulling the trigger 43 times and putting 21 of those attempts on frame. Her one goal this year came against Oregon as she buried a penalty kick. That goal combined with her two assists are still good enough to make her the team's third-leading point scorer this year with four.
Sophomore forward Lauren Hair has yet to score, but the sense is that it is just a matter of time. Some unlucky breaks and strong goalkeeping by Utah's opponents have kept her off the scoresheet, but Hair has still been a key part of the Utah attack. She earned the penalty kick that allowed Reineke to score from the spot and she has drawn countless other fouls resulting in dangerous Utah free kicks.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Soccer
Forward
/ Soccer
F
/ Soccer
F
/ Soccer
Midfielder
/ Soccer
M
/ Soccer
Goalkeeper
/ SoccerUtah Soccer's Grace Watkins - ESPN+ Feature
Sunday, September 14
Utah Soccer's Devi Dudley - ESPN+ Feature
Thursday, September 11
Utah Soccer's Ava Hetzel - ESPN+ Feature
Monday, September 08
Crimson Corner with Bill Riley - Ron McBride
Wednesday, September 03