A blazing 96 degrees and a crowd dying of heat didn’t stop the Wolverines from defeating Dixie State. After a hard fought first half both teams went into half time scoreless. “In the first half we were a little sluggish,” UVU head coach Brent Anderson said.
At half time Anderson told his team that he knew they were capable of more. Anderson organized his team defensively to be more patient on offense. “I asked them to come out and play to their abilities,” challenged Anderson.
Standing up to the call, junior Adrienne Schneider slipped though two defenders to score from 16 yards out twenty minutes into the second half, finally ending the scoring drought for both teams and giving UVU a 1-0 advantage.
With no time to waste Lauren Bluth crossed the ball to Katey Turner on the far side of the field with an on coming goalie Tonya Smith. With no hesitation Turner chipped it over the Rebel goalkeeper into the goal no less than a minute after Schneider’s goal giving the Wolverines a 2-0 lead, crippling the Rebels.
UVU still put pressure on Dixie State despite the Rebel melt down.
Shantae Adams-Yeats sprinted to a loose ball to beat Dixie’s Goalie to it, but Adams-Yeats couldn’t shoot while Smith grabbed her leg. Referee Mark Sackett chose to give no penalty, as the crowd was up in arms.
Moments later, a Dixie player was pulled down in front of the Wolverine goal. This time Sackett blew his whistle for a penalty shot.
Dixie midfielder Mikala Wilkes took the shot from 10 feet away, but UVU goalkeeper Mallory Schott stopped the line drive, making the save.
“You can either wait and hope you can stop it or you can just go for it,” Schott said. “I decided I would go to my left, and that is where she went.” Schott ended the game with five saves.
Being pleased with his team defensively Anderson says since previously losing to Weber State 3-2 in overtime, the goal for the team has been to be more organized defensively and patient individually. It’s paid off. “You could see the difference in the second half. We played good possession, more patient and didn’t force the attack,” Anderson said.
After the 2-0 victory over Dixie Katey Turner said, “We never have really beat them in a match like this so we are all hyped. It was a tuff second half but we picked it up.”
After getting the game under control the Wolverines ended their preseason on a positive note. Now, they have to prepare for the start of the regular season against Northern Colorado this Thursday at 3 p.m. on the Orem field.
