OREM – After a season of ups and downs, the women’s soccer team goes undefeated in Big West Conference play to secure at least a share of the Big West Title. They’ve now claimed five consecutive regular-season championships.
If you tuned in at the beginning of the semester to the UVU women’s soccer team, you’d now be shocked to learn that they learned from that rough patch and went undefeated in the conference play. This team has been through fire and while not a phoenix, these Wolverines have grown into a beast of a team.
“I’m excited for the group, for the team. They’ve committed and they’ve done what we’ve asked,” says head coach Chris Lemay, “They’ve dealt with adversity throughout the season and they’ve been consistently getting better at the right time of the year.”
Coach Lemay summed it up perfectly. Whenever a surge was needed, they came ready. Coming into the Big West conference play with a 4-4 record isn’t anything crazy. Ending that regular season with a 8-0 record, however, that’s the beauty of sports.
Captain Sadie Beardall is beyond proud of her team. She knows the pain and effort well, she understands that ebb-and-flow that comes with competing at this level.
After a long 30 minutes, Utah Valley’s first sign of victory came from Nixan Jackson in the 35th minute, after a connection from Addie Olson. This was Jackson’s 7th goal of the season.
The spark was lit and even though there was a semblance of a response, the Freshman goalkeeper Madeleine Boucher would hold them at zero, finishing the night with a total of five saves. “We’ve talked about it before,” said Boucher, “if one player gets beat, the next player needs to step up for them.”
This mentality kept the Wolverines at a 1-0 lead until the 83rd minute when Beardall would add another to the board 2-0 and secure their victory.
Despite the celebrations, confetti, cheering, hugging, Beardall doesn’t give herself up, not yet. “I mean, it’s just a check off the list. We don’t stop, we continue to the next game.”
They close out their first season in the Big West Oct. 31 at CSUN. If they can win, they claim the regular season trophy for themselves.
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