By Jonathan Boldt
Assistant Sports Editor
Utah Valley University took on their stiffest competition in the Great West conference Saturday night and found a way to muster up enough energy after playing two double overtime games this week to pull out a 3-1 win over Houston Baptist, preserving their perfect in conference record (3-0, 8-6-1 overall).
Thursday night under the lights at Clyde Field, Regan Clifford scored a golden goal halfway through the second overtime and with 23 minutes to play Saturday she scored what would prove to be the game winner.
“Regan Clifford, I don’t what to say about her. She has been very composed in her finishing,” said Anderson. “I also love it when Camille shoots from the outside. She does it in practice and she’s very good at it. Sometimes she’s hesitant in games but you see what she can do.”
These two teams represent the past two conference champs, with the Huskies of Houston Baptist being the team that put an end to the Wolverines season last year with a 1-0 win in GWC tournament action. The loss to the Huskies put an end to UVU’s bid to repeat as champs and that game was a double overtime match as well.
“This is a good rivalry. We know we’re always going to get the best out of them and they’re going to get the best out of us,” said UVU coach Brent Anderson. “I like the way our girls played tonight. It took us a little while to get going but once we got that first goal we started connecting and possessing the ball a lot better. Our defense and mid-field played very well for us.”
Camille Broderick kicked off the scoring with a goal ten minutes into the action, as her shot from the far right corner of the box found it’s way into the net in the top left corner of the goal. The score stayed knotted-up at 1-0 until Taylor Gibson scored the equalizer in the 61st minute for the Huskies.
The game winner came on a goal kick by sophomore keeper Lauren sack that found it’s way to Clifford, in a similar fashion to her game winner against Howard a couple nights ago. Natalie Young continued her hot streak scoring on an indirect kick with two minutes left to play to put things out of reach. Young’s goal was her seventh of the year which leads the team.
The Wolverines will take an east coast road trip for three games in less than a week beginning Tuesday at Princeton in a non-conference match. The Wolverines will play at Delaware State on Thursday followed up by facing NJIT on Saturday, Oct. 22 in a pair of Great West contests.
Jonathan Boldt can be reached at jonboldt@gmail.com
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