Utah Soccer to Host Wildcats for First Big 12 Matchup

Thursday, September 12

Salt Lake City, UT

7 p.m.

University of Utah

Arizona

Utah Utes Soccer vs.Utah Valley University at Ute Field in Salt Lake City, UT on Sunday, September 08, 2024.
Davis Kuhn/Utah Athletics

Photo by: Davis Kuhn/Utah Athletics

Utah Soccer to Host Wildcats for First Big 12 Matchup

9/9/2024 2:45 PM | Soccer

Match Notes

Ute Field to launch Utah’s conference debut

SALT LAKE CITY - Coming off a program-first loss against Utah Valley, the University of Utah Women's soccer team will meet the University of Arizona Wildcats on the pitch for the first-ever Big 12 face off on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Ute Field. Fans can watch this historical match on ESPN+ with Bill Riley and Jay Nolly commentating.

THURSDAY'S MATCHUP
Date | Time: Thursday, Sept. 12 | 7:00 p.m.
Utah (2-2-2) vs. Arizona (5-1-1)
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah | Ute Field
Live Stats: Click Here
TV: ESPN+ Click Here
Twitter Updates: @UtahWSoccer

SUNDAY'S MATCHUP
Date | Time: Sunday, Sept. 15 | 4:00 p.m.
Utah (2-2-2) vs. Idaho State (1-3-2)
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah | Ute Field
Live Stats: Click Here
TV: ESPN+ Click Here
Twitter Updates: @UtahWSoccer

Game Promotions
"Be There for History" night. For Thursday's match against Arizona, fans are encouraged to wear red to show their Utah pride. It will be the MUSS Appreciation game, so the Utes will be showing their love for their student section and their support throughout the year. There will be a giveaway for Utah student to receive 2024 MUSS Soccer shirts. The first 100 students through the gate will receive a food voucher for Yoshi's Japanese Grill and the first 500 will receive a koozie. Team appreciation: All club teams will receive discounted admission into the match. There will be a fan giveaway of 250 foam fingers.

Sunday night is Bark in the Park! Fans are invited to bring their dogs into the game to sit and watch Utah take on Idaho State on the North Grass. There will be a giveaway of 200 Utah Soccer dog bowls.

Scouting Arizona
Thursday's match will mark the 22^nd meeting of the Utes and Wildcats, currently running an 8-11-1 record. Their first match took place at Arizona in October of 1995 and ended in a 2-1 loss for the Utes, while the last match between Utah and Arizona ended in a 1-0 loss for the Utes, due to an own goal scored at Ute Field on Oct. 29 in 2023. This meeting will be the first Big 12 contest for both University of Utah's and University of Arizona's debut Big 12 season.

The Wildcats are boasting a 5-1-1 start to their season and will be visiting the Utes after back-to-back wins over UC Irvine and New Mexico State. At this time last year, Arizona brought a 3-3-3 record, after falling to #21 Gonzaga.

Head coach Becca Moros is in her fourth season at the helm of the Wildcats soccer program and led the team to conference wins over Oregon, Utah and Arizona state in the Pac-12 conference. In the 25 goals accumulated in Arizona's 2023 season, nine were put forth by forward Nicole Dallin, who returned for her fifth-year of eligibility this year. Arizona has ten players bringing in goals, but Dallin is leading the way with five this season, while senior midfielder Gianna Christiansen is bringing up second with three.

The Wildcat's lost their stand-out goalkeeper, Hope Hisey, after she was drafted in the NWSL draft, so a new face has appeared in the net. Junior goalkeeper Olivia Ramey has taken the starting job and already has five clean sheets in her first campaign in Tucson.

Scouting Idaho State
Utah and Idaho State will be seeing each other for the first time since September of 2011, when the Utes beat Idaho 3-1. The two schools hold a long history, meeting up 33 previous times, the first game dating back to March 27 of 1998. The Bengals are being led by head coach Dustin Downey.

Before meeting Southern Utah, Idaho State holds a 1-3-2 record, after coming up level with North Dakota State at 0-0. Freshman midfielder Paige Harris holds the teams top scorer spot with two goals. In 2023, the Bengals made it to the Big Sky Conference quarterfinals, the first appearance in a conference tournament match for the Pocatello team since 2014. Though Idaho State out shot Portland State 20-17, the Bengals fell 4-1 in the end.

Recently at Ute Field
The Utes fell to Utah Valley, whose receiving votes, 2-0, on Sept. 8. This loss broke Utah's eight game unbeaten streak against the Wolverines. Down a deficit of 1-0 at the beginning of the second half, the Utes attempted to block a cross, and headed the ball into the net for an own goal.

Early Birds
In four of the matches this season, the Utes have gotten on the board within the first 10 minutes. Taliana Kaufusi accomplished this feat against Gonzaga, Grand Canyon and LSU, while Katie O'Kane added a 10th minute goal against Weber State.

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.

Stacking Up Shots
The Utes have outshot four of their six opponents this season, accumulating a total of 64 shots to their opponents 54. On the pitch with Weber State, the Utes tallied 12 shots, while the Wildcats marked down five. In their match against GCU, they established a heavy advantage in total shots, outshooting their guests by a 14-3 margin. Utah could only boast of such a significant advantage in that statistic four times in 2023, the largest being a 32-12 margin in their win over Oregon.

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 of 2024. She's the first Ute to earn a conference weekly award since Katie O'Kane in Oct. of 2023.

Two Goals for Taliana
Taliana Kaufusi found the back of the net for the second straight match on Aug. 22 against GCU, after netting her team's first goal of the season on Aug. 15 against Gonzaga. Kaufusi is the first Ute to start the season with goals in each of the squad's first two contests since Chelsea Forbes in 2009.

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.

2024 Schedule
The four-match home stretch kicked off a schedule where the Utes play at home a total of 11 times. This season, Utah will face off against two ranked teams, BYU and Texas Tech, and matches against TCU and Utah Valley who are receiving votes nationally. The Ute's first Big 12 match will take place at Ute Field on Sept. 12, where they'll square off with the Arizona Wildcats.

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.

The list of new league foes the Utes will have to contend with include a Texas Tech team that won the conference's regular season title, then reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament, as well as a BYU squad that reached the College Cup for the second time in three seasons. Utah will also be taking the field against Iowa State and Kansas State for the first time in program history.

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
Season tickets for 2024 are currently on sale, with single-match tickets going on sale on Aug. 12. 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 take a break from the Big 12 opponents to host Idaho State on Sunday Sept.15 at 4 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.