Saturday, Oct. 26, was senior day at Clyde Field, as Utah Valley women’s soccer hosted Grand Canyon University. UVU controlled the tempo of the match early on and finally broke through with a second half goal. The lone goal was all that was needed as the Wolverines hung on to win 1-0.
This was a rematch of last seasons WAC tournament quarterfinal match in which UVU topped GCU 2-1. The all-time series record going into this match was 8-3-1 in favor of the Wolverines.
The first half had little to no action as it was knotted up at 0-0. Only five shots total were taken between both teams.
However, to kick off the beginning of half number two, the Wolverines gained control quickly. This led to a beautiful pass in the box by sophomore midfielder Madeline Moore to junior midfielder Amber Tripp, after which Tripp found the back of the net. The goal in the 49th minute was Tripp’s sixth on the season.
Though UVU had just the lone goal, they got plenty of shots off throughout the match — the second half especially. They tallied 15 shots with six coming on goal compared to GCU’s eight with only two on goal.
“We love playing here [at home], I think the girls really get up for our fans and our home field,” said UVU head coach Chris Lemay. “The teams in a really good spot, the chemistry is good right now and I think that is an attribute of why we’re getting the results that we’re getting.”
The three seniors honored on the evening were goalkeeper Allie Jara, midfielder Brianna Hatch and defender Hannah Bruce. Jara impressively performed the national anthem before the game as well. Get you a goalkeeper who can do both!
Jara was also able to cap off her senior day with two saves and a clean sheet, her sixth on the season.
“It feels good to get a shutout on senior day, we have three fantastic seniors and we wanted to end on a good note. Certainly getting the shutout, the win and the three points is also nice,” said Lemay.
The Wolverines ended their 2019 home season with an impressive record of 8-1-1 — their best home record since 2015, where they went 9-0-1 and went on to win the WAC tournament.
UVU will head to the Northwest for one more regular season match against second place Seattle University. The match will take place on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 8 p.m. MST.
