Upcoming Event: Soccer versus Oregon State on September 14, 2025 at 1 p.m.
1 p.m.
Soccer
vs Oregon State
Thursday, October 17
Salt Lake City, UT
7 p.m.
University of Utah
vs
Houston
Utah Soccer takes on Houston for Senior Night
10/16/2024 2:41 PM | Soccer
The Utes celebrate Seniors on Thursday and breast cancer research on Sunday
SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah women's soccer team earned split results in a pair of games in Kansas, but are prepared to play their final two matches on their home pitch, meeting Houston on Thursday night at 7 p.m. to celebrate Senior Night and having a pink game in honor of breast cancer research against the Baylor Bears on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Ute Field.
Game Promotions
Utah Athletics is hosting a Trunk-or-Treat for all fans on Thursday night a 6 p.m. in the Ute Field parking lot. Using the QR code on the Trunk-or-Treat flyer, spectators can claim tickets for $5. Before the match, Utah will be honoring their seniors and their contributions to the team, this ceremony will begin at 6:40. Feed U Pantry will be hosting a food drive and accepting all non-perishable donations at the gate. There is also a giveaway of Halloween candy for all fans in attendance.
Sunday's match is the Breast Cancer Awareness game. The first 100 fans will receive BCA Utah Soccer t-shirts.
How's Houston?
The Cougar's head coach Jaime Frias has been at the helm for three seasons, following a four-year stint with Virginia as an assistant coach. Last season, he led the Cougars to a 6-0-1 start, their best in program history. This season, they recorded 3-1-2 to kick of their second season as Big 12 members, and are currently sitting on 4-9-1 with three conference games left in the docket.
This will be the second time Houston finds themselves on Ute Field, the first trip to Salt Lake City was in August of 2015 and ended in a Ute win 4-1. The Cougars earned their first Big 12 win of the season last week against Arizona, 1-0. Senior Alexis Fowlkes was the sole point scorer of the match, earning a goal in the 53rd minute, but senior Juliet Moore leads the team in goals this season, accumulating five over three games, including a hattrick on Sept. 1 against Texas State.
In the net, freshman Maggie Manning has been the primary starter in Big 12 play. Manning earned her first career shutout, and the Coogs third shutout this season, with a 1-0 win against the Wildcats, facing 14 shots.
Browsing the Bears
The Baylor Bears' efforts have them sitting at a 7-6-3 record this season, 2-4-2 in conference play. At the forefront of the program is head coach Michelle Lenard, who is going into her third season at Baylor. In 2023, Lenard led the squad back to the Big 12 tournament after missing out on it in 2022. With 19 returners, the program is stacked with the addition of six freshmen.
Lenard's squad earned their first Big 12 win of the season against Houston with a 4-0 shutout on Sept. 22 and picked up a second success against Arizona State with the same 4-0 result. Junior Tyler Isgrig helped create both victories, adding a goal to each. Isgrig currently tops the Bears' chart in goals with five and in assists, accumulating six this season.
Protecting the box, junior Azul Alvarez has been the starting goalkeeper for the Waco team. Facing 230 shots this season, Alvarez has marked 72 saves in this season alone. Baylor will visit BYU before making their way to Salt Lake on Sunday.
A Kansas Pair
The Utes took to the road and visited Kansas State and Kansas, earning split results. At Kansas State, Utah walked away with a 2-1 victory, after goals from two freshmen Katie Callaway and Bella Woods. Against the Jayhawks, the Utes weren't as lucky, coming out with a 2-0 loss and an own goal.
Top 100
In the recent Top Drawer rankings, graduate forward Taliana Kaufusi is ranked #99 college soccer player in the nation and freshman midfielder Bella Woods currently sits at #69 in Freshmen college players in the nation.
Sometimes You Just Need a Lil Help
Lilliah Blum contributed two assists during the match against Arizona State, one to Kaufusi and one to Callaway, marking it the second match this season that Blum has assisted in two goals on the pitch. She first accomplished this feat on Sept. 1st against Weber State and is the first Ute to tally multiple games with multiple helpers since Jenny Hutton in 2013. Blum currently holds the third-most assists in the Big 12.
Taliana is at the Top
Taliana Kaufusi's ten goals currently have her alone atop the Big 12 leader board, one more than TCU's Seven Castain and UCF's Chloe Netzel, and tied for eleventh in the nation. Kaufusi's ten scores have also boosted her career total in that statistic to 27, becoming the sole fifth-most all-time in program history. This puts her just behind Shauna Gurr-Bingham, Class of 2002, who tallied 30 in her four years.
Sun Devils Fall
Utah visited ASU for a road conference game, defeating the Sun Devils on their home pitch 4-1 on Oct. 4. Goals from Kaufusi, O'Kane, Blum and Callaway contributed to the Ute's second Big 12 win, first Big 12 win on the road. Four goals is twice as many as ASU had allowed in any match in 2024 before Friday, and it's the highest total they've allowed at home since a 4-3 defeat against UCLA in 2021.
Re-Joyce for Callaway
After tallying an assist and her first career goal against Arizona State, Katie Callaway, often referred to as "Joyce" by her teammates, was named Big 12 Freshman Player of the Week. Callaway is the third Ute to receive a conference weekly award and second to be named Freshman of the Week this season.
We Aim to Assist
So far in 2024, 15 different Utes have at least one assist to their credit. That's the highest total in a season for the Utes since 2009, when they had 14 players tally an assist.
Early Birds
In five of the matches this season, the Utes got on the board within the first 10 minutes. Taliana Kaufusi accomplished this feat against Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, LSU and ASU, while Katie O'Kane added a 10th minute goal against Weber State.
Downing the Wildcats
Utah defeated the University of Arizona Wildcats in the schools' Big 12 season opener, 1-0 on Sept. 12 at Ute Field. The last time the Utes met with the Wildcats was on Oct. 29 in Arizona for a Pac-12 conference matchup and Utah fell 1-0 after hitting an own goal.
Tali the Mad Hatter
Taliana Kaufusi recorded her second hat trick of the campaign eight games after the Utes beat Idaho State, 4-1 on Sept. 15. Her first hat trick this season came against Weber State on Sept. 1. Kaufusi is the first Ute to accomplish this feat in 28 years. The first Ute to claim this was Jackie Doman in the 1996 season. Her second hat trick netted her the Big 12's Offensive Player of the Week award.
Hats Off
On Sept. 1 against Weber State, for the first time on record in program history, two Utes tallied hat tricks in the same match. Both Katie O'Kane and Taliana Kaufusi booted in three goals in a 7-1 rout of the Wildcats. For O'Kane, this marked her second collegiate hat trick, the first coming on Oct. 1, 2023 at Oregon, while it was the first for Kaufusi.
If She Could, She Wood
In the ninetieth minute of Utah's season opener, freshman midfielder Bella Woods earned a free kick off a handball from Gonzaga. With pressure to take the lead of the tied game, Woods's shot curled around the Bulldogs' defenders and into the back of the net, earning the win for the Utes.
Bella Brings Home the Hardware
After her game-winning score against Gonzaga, Woods was recognized as the first Big 12 Freshman of the Week in 2024. She's the first Ute to earn a conference weekly award since Katie O'Kane in Oct. of 2023.
2024 Utah Women's Soccer Roster
Coach Hideki Nakada has assembled a squad that consists of 13 returners and 12 newcomers. The list of players back in Utah Red include 2023 leading scorer Katie O'Kane and Taliana Kaufusi, who topped the team in goals in 2022. Brooklyn Blaylock and 2023 assists leader Kelly Bullock have also returned after starting all 20 matches a season ago, as has Kasey Wardle, who finished as one of the conference leaders in saves as a sophomore.
Among the many new Utes on Nakada's roster are true freshmen Callie Blaylock, Londyn Lovell, Mia Paugh, Siena Zunino, Katie Callaway and Bella Ganiere. The Utah staff also added six transfers, including sophomore Landen Matthews, junior Erin Gibbs, senior Devi Dudley and graduate students Grace Watkins, Rachel Bastone and Ava Hetzel.
NCAA Appearances
The Utes are heading into 2024 aiming for their ninth NCAA Tournament berth and their first since 2019. Utah's best showing the national postseason occurred in 2016, when victories over Texas Tech and Florida State propelled them to the Sweet 16.
New Conference, Same Utes
The 2024 campaign will be Utah's first as members of the Big 12, the fourth different conference the Utes have competed in since the program's inception as members of the WAC in 1995. Utah posted a 7-8-2 mark during that initial season, then went 13-7 in 1999 when they played in the Mountain West Conference for the first time. Their first foray into Pac-12 play was in 2011, when they finished 10-9-1.
New Year, New Staff
In addition to the new faces on the field for the Utes, coach Hideki Nakada also added two new coaches to his staff.
Assistant coach Travis Smith officially came on board in January after three seasons at Kansas, where he helped the Jayhawks rack up 20 victories, including wins over squads ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation. Smith also spent time at Brandeis High School, where his pupils included three all-state and seven all-region selections. He helped the squad to a district title in 2018 and, two years later, the Broncos finished the season ranked at No. 9 in the state.
Fellow assistant Jackie Poortinga was hired in May after a busy last several years that included functioning as Phoenix Rising's Director of Goalkeeping, a position she's held since 2021. Her
responsibilities there included overseeing the development of the organization's goalkeepers, developing and implementing the team's goalkeeper training curriculum and identifying talent for the purposes of improving the roster. She also functioned as an Assistant Goalkeeper Coach for the Phoenix Rising FC Men's USL Championship team.
Tickets
Tickets can be purchased by visiting utahtickets.com/soccer/. All ticket sales are cashless and all tickets are digital, including MUSS Tickets. Pre-purchasing tickets will allow fans to obtain the best price. Those on the Utah player pass list will have their tickets added to their account associated with the email provided by the student-athletes.
To ensure a successful experience with digital ticketing, fans are encouraged to download their tickets to the wallet on their smartphone for presentation upon arrival at the stadium gates to expedite the entry process. Ticket sales and customer service will be available at the ticket office near the main entrance.
Next Up
The Utes will play their final match on their home pitch, taking on the Baylor Bears on Oct. 20 at 1 p.m. at Ute Field.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @UtahWSoccer | Instagram: @UtahWSoccer | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utahwsoccer), and the official mobile app of Utah Athletics, Utah360 -- download here.
| THURSDAY'S MATCHUP Date | Time: Thursday, Oct. 17 | 7:00 p.m. Utah (6-5-4) vs. Houston (4-9-1) Location: Salt Lake City, Utah | Ute Field Live Stats: Click Here TV: ESPN+ Click Here Twitter Updates: @UtahWSoccer |
|
Game Promotions
Utah Athletics is hosting a Trunk-or-Treat for all fans on Thursday night a 6 p.m. in the Ute Field parking lot. Using the QR code on the Trunk-or-Treat flyer, spectators can claim tickets for $5. Before the match, Utah will be honoring their seniors and their contributions to the team, this ceremony will begin at 6:40. Feed U Pantry will be hosting a food drive and accepting all non-perishable donations at the gate. There is also a giveaway of Halloween candy for all fans in attendance.
Sunday's match is the Breast Cancer Awareness game. The first 100 fans will receive BCA Utah Soccer t-shirts.
How's Houston?
The Cougar's head coach Jaime Frias has been at the helm for three seasons, following a four-year stint with Virginia as an assistant coach. Last season, he led the Cougars to a 6-0-1 start, their best in program history. This season, they recorded 3-1-2 to kick of their second season as Big 12 members, and are currently sitting on 4-9-1 with three conference games left in the docket.
This will be the second time Houston finds themselves on Ute Field, the first trip to Salt Lake City was in August of 2015 and ended in a Ute win 4-1. The Cougars earned their first Big 12 win of the season last week against Arizona, 1-0. Senior Alexis Fowlkes was the sole point scorer of the match, earning a goal in the 53rd minute, but senior Juliet Moore leads the team in goals this season, accumulating five over three games, including a hattrick on Sept. 1 against Texas State.
In the net, freshman Maggie Manning has been the primary starter in Big 12 play. Manning earned her first career shutout, and the Coogs third shutout this season, with a 1-0 win against the Wildcats, facing 14 shots.
Browsing the Bears
The Baylor Bears' efforts have them sitting at a 7-6-3 record this season, 2-4-2 in conference play. At the forefront of the program is head coach Michelle Lenard, who is going into her third season at Baylor. In 2023, Lenard led the squad back to the Big 12 tournament after missing out on it in 2022. With 19 returners, the program is stacked with the addition of six freshmen.
Lenard's squad earned their first Big 12 win of the season against Houston with a 4-0 shutout on Sept. 22 and picked up a second success against Arizona State with the same 4-0 result. Junior Tyler Isgrig helped create both victories, adding a goal to each. Isgrig currently tops the Bears' chart in goals with five and in assists, accumulating six this season.
Protecting the box, junior Azul Alvarez has been the starting goalkeeper for the Waco team. Facing 230 shots this season, Alvarez has marked 72 saves in this season alone. Baylor will visit BYU before making their way to Salt Lake on Sunday.
A Kansas Pair
The Utes took to the road and visited Kansas State and Kansas, earning split results. At Kansas State, Utah walked away with a 2-1 victory, after goals from two freshmen Katie Callaway and Bella Woods. Against the Jayhawks, the Utes weren't as lucky, coming out with a 2-0 loss and an own goal.
Top 100
In the recent Top Drawer rankings, graduate forward Taliana Kaufusi is ranked #99 college soccer player in the nation and freshman midfielder Bella Woods currently sits at #69 in Freshmen college players in the nation.
Sometimes You Just Need a Lil Help
Lilliah Blum contributed two assists during the match against Arizona State, one to Kaufusi and one to Callaway, marking it the second match this season that Blum has assisted in two goals on the pitch. She first accomplished this feat on Sept. 1st against Weber State and is the first Ute to tally multiple games with multiple helpers since Jenny Hutton in 2013. Blum currently holds the third-most assists in the Big 12.
Taliana is at the Top
Taliana Kaufusi's ten goals currently have her alone atop the Big 12 leader board, one more than TCU's Seven Castain and UCF's Chloe Netzel, and tied for eleventh in the nation. Kaufusi's ten scores have also boosted her career total in that statistic to 27, becoming the sole fifth-most all-time in program history. This puts her just behind Shauna Gurr-Bingham, Class of 2002, who tallied 30 in her four years.
Sun Devils Fall
Utah visited ASU for a road conference game, defeating the Sun Devils on their home pitch 4-1 on Oct. 4. Goals from Kaufusi, O'Kane, Blum and Callaway contributed to the Ute's second Big 12 win, first Big 12 win on the road. Four goals is twice as many as ASU had allowed in any match in 2024 before Friday, and it's the highest total they've allowed at home since a 4-3 defeat against UCLA in 2021.
Re-Joyce for Callaway
After tallying an assist and her first career goal against Arizona State, Katie Callaway, often referred to as "Joyce" by her teammates, was named Big 12 Freshman Player of the Week. Callaway is the third Ute to receive a conference weekly award and second to be named Freshman of the Week this season.
We Aim to Assist
So far in 2024, 15 different Utes have at least one assist to their credit. That's the highest total in a season for the Utes since 2009, when they had 14 players tally an assist.
Early Birds
In five of the matches this season, the Utes got on the board within the first 10 minutes. Taliana Kaufusi accomplished this feat against Gonzaga, Grand Canyon, LSU and ASU, while Katie O'Kane added a 10th minute goal against Weber State.
Downing the Wildcats
Utah defeated the University of Arizona Wildcats in the schools' Big 12 season opener, 1-0 on Sept. 12 at Ute Field. The last time the Utes met with the Wildcats was on Oct. 29 in Arizona for a Pac-12 conference matchup and Utah fell 1-0 after hitting an own goal.
Tali the Mad Hatter
Taliana Kaufusi recorded her second hat trick of the campaign eight games after the Utes beat Idaho State, 4-1 on Sept. 15. Her first hat trick this season came against Weber State on Sept. 1. Kaufusi is the first Ute to accomplish this feat in 28 years. The first Ute to claim this was Jackie Doman in the 1996 season. Her second hat trick netted her the Big 12's Offensive Player of the Week award.
Hats Off
On Sept. 1 against Weber State, for the first time on record in program history, two Utes tallied hat tricks in the same match. Both Katie O'Kane and Taliana Kaufusi booted in three goals in a 7-1 rout of the Wildcats. For O'Kane, this marked her second collegiate hat trick, the first coming on Oct. 1, 2023 at Oregon, while it was the first for Kaufusi.
If She Could, She Wood
In the ninetieth minute of Utah's season opener, freshman midfielder Bella Woods earned a free kick off a handball from Gonzaga. With pressure to take the lead of the tied game, Woods's shot curled around the Bulldogs' defenders and into the back of the net, earning the win for the Utes.
Bella Brings Home the Hardware
After her game-winning score against Gonzaga, Woods was recognized as the first Big 12 Freshman of the Week in 2024. She's the first Ute to earn a conference weekly award since Katie O'Kane in Oct. of 2023.
2024 Utah Women's Soccer Roster
Coach Hideki Nakada has assembled a squad that consists of 13 returners and 12 newcomers. The list of players back in Utah Red include 2023 leading scorer Katie O'Kane and Taliana Kaufusi, who topped the team in goals in 2022. Brooklyn Blaylock and 2023 assists leader Kelly Bullock have also returned after starting all 20 matches a season ago, as has Kasey Wardle, who finished as one of the conference leaders in saves as a sophomore.
Among the many new Utes on Nakada's roster are true freshmen Callie Blaylock, Londyn Lovell, Mia Paugh, Siena Zunino, Katie Callaway and Bella Ganiere. The Utah staff also added six transfers, including sophomore Landen Matthews, junior Erin Gibbs, senior Devi Dudley and graduate students Grace Watkins, Rachel Bastone and Ava Hetzel.
NCAA Appearances
The Utes are heading into 2024 aiming for their ninth NCAA Tournament berth and their first since 2019. Utah's best showing the national postseason occurred in 2016, when victories over Texas Tech and Florida State propelled them to the Sweet 16.
New Conference, Same Utes
The 2024 campaign will be Utah's first as members of the Big 12, the fourth different conference the Utes have competed in since the program's inception as members of the WAC in 1995. Utah posted a 7-8-2 mark during that initial season, then went 13-7 in 1999 when they played in the Mountain West Conference for the first time. Their first foray into Pac-12 play was in 2011, when they finished 10-9-1.
New Year, New Staff
In addition to the new faces on the field for the Utes, coach Hideki Nakada also added two new coaches to his staff.
Assistant coach Travis Smith officially came on board in January after three seasons at Kansas, where he helped the Jayhawks rack up 20 victories, including wins over squads ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation. Smith also spent time at Brandeis High School, where his pupils included three all-state and seven all-region selections. He helped the squad to a district title in 2018 and, two years later, the Broncos finished the season ranked at No. 9 in the state.
Fellow assistant Jackie Poortinga was hired in May after a busy last several years that included functioning as Phoenix Rising's Director of Goalkeeping, a position she's held since 2021. Her
responsibilities there included overseeing the development of the organization's goalkeepers, developing and implementing the team's goalkeeper training curriculum and identifying talent for the purposes of improving the roster. She also functioned as an Assistant Goalkeeper Coach for the Phoenix Rising FC Men's USL Championship team.
Tickets
Tickets can be purchased by visiting utahtickets.com/soccer/. All ticket sales are cashless and all tickets are digital, including MUSS Tickets. Pre-purchasing tickets will allow fans to obtain the best price. Those on the Utah player pass list will have their tickets added to their account associated with the email provided by the student-athletes.
To ensure a successful experience with digital ticketing, fans are encouraged to download their tickets to the wallet on their smartphone for presentation upon arrival at the stadium gates to expedite the entry process. Ticket sales and customer service will be available at the ticket office near the main entrance.
Next Up
The Utes will play their final match on their home pitch, taking on the Baylor Bears on Oct. 20 at 1 p.m. at Ute Field.
Follow the Utes!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @UtahWSoccer | Instagram: @UtahWSoccer | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utahwsoccer), and the official mobile app of Utah Athletics, Utah360 -- download here.
Players Mentioned
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