Conference play came to a close Saturday night at Clyde Field where the Wolverines tried to get one last win against the 6-1-1 Redhawks before the WAC Tournament. UVU unfortunately couldn’t pull it off, losing to Seattle 2-0.
The Wolverines stood their ground the first 20 minutes of the game before forward Leahi Manthei sent one past goalkeeper Sarah Davis, giving the Redhawks the 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute. Both teams played a fast paced game, UVU getting three shots in the first half and Seattle with six.
The first half ended with UVU unable to score, but also holding Seattle to only that one goal. Davis had two saves to keep the Redhawks from running away with the game.
“I hope that we have been saving all of our goals for the conference tournament,” head coach Chris Lemay said. “We’ve been struggling in the final third, I think we’ve done alright in the back third and middle third, but we have got to find a way to score goals.”
The Redhawks weren’t about to make things any easier for the Wolverines as they started out the second half. Three yellow cards were given throughout the match, all of which happened after the 70th minute of play. One of those cards against Seattle’s defender Emily Zimmer and the other two against UVU’s defender Hannah Bruce, and forward Sadie Brockbank.
“I think we had some urgency in the last 10 minutes of the game that created some chances, but we have got to play 90 minutes with the urgency to find chances because they don’t come easy,” Lemay said.
Utah Valley made eight substitutions throughout the game, leaving only midfielder Amber Tripp and defender Bruce in for the full 90 minutes. Goalkeepers were also switched out at the half for the Wolverines, Brooklyn Nielsen replacing Davis.
“It’s like you get to hit the reset button twice over the course of the year. You get to hit it after the non-conference play and again right now,” Lemay said.
Although the regular season is over, the Wolverines still have a chance to play as they head into the WAC tournament. Games will be played on Oct. 31st, Nov. 2nd and Nov. 4th at Clyde Field. They hold the fifth spot with a record of 3-4-1 and will play the fourth seed Grand Canyon University on Wednesday, Oct. 31st at 3:00 P.M.
Photo courtesy of: UVU Athletics
