Photo by Jesse Sanchez
OREM, Utah—The Utah Valley University women’s soccer team was defeated by Seattle University by the score of 3-1 as the rain poured down on Senior Night at Clyde Field Friday. Seattle’s Natasha Howe scored three goals, including two in the second half, for the hat trick to lift SU to victory and snap the Wolverine’s two-match win streak.
Going into the second half tied 1-1, the match was evenly balanced until Howe took control and found the net twice, both times from the left side of the penalty box, in just over two minutes to put the game out of reach 3-1.
“I think we just got exposed a little bit allowing that goal, and then we didn’t mentally recover from that and allowed another one,” UVU head coach Brent Anderson said.
With a loss in the last match of the regular season, UVU finishes with a 9-7-2 record, 3-3-1 in conference play. As for Seattle U, the regular season conference champions finished with a record of 12-5-1 and a perfect conference record of 7-0-0.
On senior night it was UVU that got on the score sheet first in the 11th minute as Breanna Dewaal sent in a corner kick that found Suesue in the box. After her initial shot ricocheted off a few players, the ball eventually crossed the line and the goal was given. The goal was registered later as an own goal and gave UVU the 1-0 lead. However, the lead lasted only five minutes when Howe found the net to equalize for Seattle U.
Coach Anderson says the team will look to represent the seniors better in the tournament as their UVU careers end.
“They’re remarkable individuals,” Anderson said, “They bring a lot of leadership and to associate with them and what they’ve done and what they’ve taught the younger players on this team is invaluable.”
UVU will look to rest up and bounce back for the conference tournament next week in Kansas City, Missouri. Senior defender Kalli Suesue said that the team knows what to work on to fix the mistakes that occurred in tonight’s defeat.
“We’ve been in this situation before,” Coach Anderson said, “We’ll make the best of this position going into the tournament. We know we’ve got work to do regardless of what position we finish in.”
The results of the remaining conference matches this week will determine UVU’s first opponent in the conference tournament next week. The first round of matches are scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 3.
