Utes Drop Match to Cal, 2-1

Thursday, October 24

Salt Lake City, Utah

7:00 PM

University of Utah

6-6-4, 1-3-3

California

11-3-2, 3-2-2

Team	1	2	Final F
California	1	1	2
Utah	1	0	1

10/24/2019 10:15 PM | Soccer

Box Score Cal 2 Utah 1

Dunn's early goal not enough for Utah

SALT LAKE CITY - Ireland Dunn's early goal could not keep Utah Soccer from dropping its first home game of the season this evening, 2-1 to Cal.

"We had a lot of good pieces to our game tonight," head coach Rich Manning said. "We started off strong and scored a great goal. Cal is an excellent team and caused us some issues at times. I thought we finished strong and really pressed for a tying goal, but could not quite get one to go. I am proud of our effort and teamwork and now we prepare for Stanford."

Utah was aggressive from the onset, attacking down the right flank through Hailey Stodden. The sophomore had three shots, two on goal, in the first seven minutes and Courtney Talbot also created an opportunity.

In the 16^th minute, Haylee Cacciacarne played the ball out wide to Dunn and the senior drove to the far end line. She was able to get around her defender and squeeze a try inside the near post for the opener.

Cal was able to answer with just its second shot on goal in the 36^th minute. Paige Metayer collected the ball in midfield and beat her defender before sending a low shot to the near left corner

The Golden Bears started the second half with a handful of opportunities but Carly Nelson stood up to the task. She stopped Mia Corbin twice, as well as Emily Smith and Emma Westin. Unfortunately, Cal took the lead in the 58^th minute. Corbin's initial try was stopped by Nelson but the rebound fell nicely to Westin who tapped in her ninth goal of the season.

After the goal, Utah pushed for an equalizer. Aleea Gwerder, Alexis Rushlow and Brooklyn James had shots on goal while Tavia Leachman had a header from a corner blocked away. The best chance may have come in the 76^th minute. A long range effort from Emali Mackinnon was bobbled by Cal keeper Angelina Anderson but her defender cleared the ball away before an onrushing Kylee Geis could get to it.

Utah is back in action on Sunday at noon against No. 2 Stanford. The game can be seen live on the Pac-12 Networks.