Utah Blanks Northern Colorado
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah women's soccer team tallied its first shutout of the season on Sunday at Ute Field. The Utes defeated Northern Colorado 3-0 in a non-conference matchup.
Utah (2-2-0) controlled the contest as they held possession for 66 percent of the match and outshot Northern Colorado (1-2-1) 22-11. The Utes put 11 shots on goal and had three different players score: Avery Brady, Sidney Roberts, and Erin Bridges.
The Utes came out early, looking to take the lead. Courtney Talbot put the first shot on goal to open the match, but Morgan Bury made a diving save. Utah had four more opportunities to break the scoreless tie following Talbot's scoring chance, but each shot was off target.
The Bears put one shot on goal in the first half, but Chelsea Peterson tallied the save. Following the shot by Northern Colorado, the Utes were on the attack again and closed out the half with four more attempts on goal, but the game went scoreless into halftime.
Within the first minute of the second half, the Bears took advantage of a Ute turnover, and Olivia Seddon took a shot that Peterson made a diving save to keep the match scoreless.
46' | HUGE save by Chelsea Peterson to open the second half.
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?? https://t.co/aWB70ytLiZ#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/3z2vcd0bLc— Utah Women's Soccer (@UtahWSoccer) August 29, 2021
Following the Northern Colorado scoring chance, Utah charged back and had the next three shot attempts. The third attempt came from Brady. She went to the upper right corner of the net to score the first goal of the game.
55' | Avery Brady gives us the lead!
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?? https://t.co/aWB70ytLiZ#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/wfOEWYPhlH— Utah Women's Soccer (@UtahWSoccer) August 29, 2021
Utah kept the pressure on the Bears' defense following the first goal. In the 80' minute of the contest, Makayla Christensen found Sidney Roberts on the left corner of the box, and Roberts went to the far side top corner making it 2-0 in favor of Utah.
80' | GOAL UTES! Sidney Roberts with the ??!
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?? https://t.co/aWB70ytLiZ#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/jIcOxm0z2u— Utah Women's Soccer (@UtahWSoccer) August 29, 2021
Four minutes later, the Utes added their third goal of the game. Northern Colorado was called for a foul in the box, and Erin Bridges took the penalty kick for Utah. She buried the PK into the back of the net, extending the lead to 3-0, which would be the final score.
Utah returns to the pitch Thursday, Sept. 2, at 5 p.m. (MT) when they travel to Normal, Illinois, to face Illinois State in non-conference action.