Late Wyoming goal spoils lady Wolverines’ home opener

UVU goalkeeper Hailey Brown sends the ball into orbit after making a save against Wyoming. Photo credit: Dave Iba

In the 86th minute of Friday’s home opener for the Lady Wolverine soccer team, Wyoming’s Emily Layton came free of a scramble in front of the Wolverine goal and knocked the ball past goalie Hailey Brown. With the score tied at one at the time, the goal was the go-ahead score and just four minutes later became the game-winning goal.

The game was an uphill battle from the beginning for Utah Valley. Just two minutes into the game, a direct kick by Emma Wilson soared just over the outstretched arm of Brown for the first goal of the game.

The game stayed 1-0 until UVU’s Athena Maher capitalized on a great centering pass from Camille Broderick in the 69th minute. With the game tied at one, the momentum, which had clearly been with the Cowgirls the whole game, seemed to shift dramatically to the lady Wolverines. With the shift of momentum, the ball spent a lot of time down deep in Wyoming’s end, until the Cowgirls were able to clear the ball downfield late and score the game-winning goal.

“Wyoming did a good job of taking advantage of our mistakes,” said coach Brent Anderson, “we worked very hard to win the ball, but then carelessly gave it right back.”

The loss at Clyde Field dropped UVU to 0-4-0 on the young season. coach Anderson points to the defense as a sore spot for the team right now, having allowed 13 goals in just four games.

“We need to get back to a strong defensive mentality,” said Anderson, “last year, we had seven shutouts and it seems like we have forgotten how it feels to play like that.”

Despite being outscored, UVU outshot Wyoming, 18-14.

The Lady Wolverines did bounce back from the devastating last-minute loss to Wyoming with a 1-0 victory in El Paso, Texas on Sunday against UTEP. Utah Valley”s first win of the season was only the eighth loss for UTEP at home in the last seven years. Nicole Archibald scored the only goal of the game in the second minute.

“It was nice to be able to score the goal in the second minute and not have to play uphill all day,” said Anderson of Archibald’s goal at UTEP.