The Utah Valley University women’s soccer team dominated the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in a 6-1 home game win on Thursday.
Wolverine forward Julianna Carter accounted for half the Wolverines’ goals with a hat trick while Heather Stainbrook, Megan Astle, and Tessa Thornton each accounted for the other three goals. The Wolverines scored three goals in each half while conceding one goal in the first half.
The Wolverines now advance to 8-3-3 on the season, 4-1-1 in conference play, and 5-1-1 at home. UVU also sits in fifth place in the Western Athletic Conference standings, just two games behind Western Athletic Conference leader Utah Tech University.
During the match, the Wolverines outshot UTRGV 32 to three in shots and 12 to one in shots on goal. The Wolverines had 13 corners compared to the three by UTRGV and combined for six assists as a team. UVU also played a relatively clean game, only picking up four fouls.
Hannah Lee led the Wolverines in shots with five, Faith Webber followed with four while Carter, Stainbrook, Thornton, and Sydney Bushman each had three; and Ashley Hughes, Pyper Vance, and Isabella Stewart each accounted for two shots.
The Wolverines came out swinging in the first half as Jenna Shepherd fired at the bottom right corner of the post to start the match but UTRGV goalkeeper Emma Lööv made the save. Vaquero’s midfielder Elina Seppälä tried an attempt of her own in the fourth minute but missed high and away.
Carter, assisted by Stainbrook, responded in the fifth minute with her first goal of the match in the fifth minute to put the Wolverines up 1-0 early. Stainbrook, assisted by Nicole Olanda, followed with a goal of her own in the seventh minute to quickly put UVU up 2-0.
The Wolverines would then go on to unleash eight shots over the next 19 minutes, including two shots that Lööv saved.
UTRGV eventually got on board as defender Elizabeth Beilfuss, assisted by Alaina Granger, found the back of the net in the 33rd minute to cut the deficit down to 2-1.
The Wolverines answered with three shots of their own before Astle scored the final goal of the half in the 43rd minute to give UVU the 3-1 edge before halftime.
UVU picked right back where they left off to start the second half, opening the second half with three attempts before Carter, assisted by Jocelyn Bybee and Madeline Moore, punched in her second goal of the match in the 57th minute to give put give a comfortable 4-1 lead to UVU.
The Wolverines continued to apply the pressure, taking three more shots after a missed attempt by the Vaqueros before Carter, assisted by Haley Richardson and Bushman, scored her second-consecutive goal of the match to earn a hat trick and give UVU a 5-1 advantage.
Thornton had a great look in the 77th minute, delivering the ball right up the middle but Lööv was able to make the stop. However, Thornton immediately got the ball back following the save and lodged it in to give the Wolverines their sixth goal of the match and a 6-1 lead.
The Wolverines continued to dominate the rest of the match, taking more shots and preventing UTRGV from having more opportunities to score or shoot any shots, finishing the game with a final score of 6-1.
UVU’s next match will be against the Stephen F. Austin University Lumberjacks on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 6:00 p.m. at Clyde Field in Orem, Utah. The match can be streamed on ESPN+.
