The Utah soccer team fell to the Pepperdine Waves, 1-0, in their final game at the Toyota College Classic Sunday in Temecula, California. Amanda Rupp scored the lone goal of the game fifteen minutes into the second half and the Waves were able to make it stand up.

The 70-minute game was played with a stiff breeze blowing. The Utes headed into the wind during the first half and had to defend a bit with the conditions. Goal keeper, Emalee Rogers, snuffed out a couple of through passes early and defender, Morgan Skeen, had to clear a loose ball in front of an open net in the 17th minute.

Utah found some rhythm in the latter stages of the half and were unfortunate not to take the lead in the final minute when midfielder Amanda Sanchez hit a beautifully floated through pass over the Pepperdine defense and onto the rushing Kelly Isleib. Isleib tried to chip the bouncing ball over the goal keeper, but her shot floated over the goal.

The Utes began the second half with some excellent attacking play. Forwards Erin Dalley and Lauren Hair hooked up a couple of times, only to see their combination passes go just out of reach. Dalley broke through in the 50th minute, but Waves goal keeper, Kayla Stolte, just beat her to the ball.

The Pepperdine goal came on a counter attack after some good Utah pressure. The Waves cleared a ball out to midfield and, after a scramble, midfielder Joanna Idom found Rupp behind the defense where she slotted it past Rogers. Utah had some pressure in the final minutes but could not find the equalizer. Amy Edman finished the final 20 minutes in the net, succeeding Rogers.

The Utes will be back in action this Saturday, April 12, when they travel to Provo to play in the BYU Outdoor Spring Invitational.
Utah will face Utah Valley at 11:00 A.M. , then finish with a game against BYU at 4:30 P.M.

The Utah soccer team battled to a 3-3 tie against UC Santa Barbara this afternoon in a spring game held at the Toyota College Classic in Temecula, California. Lauren Hair scored twice and Kelly Isleib tallied once as the Utes clawed to three separate leads, only to have the Gauchos draw even on each occasion. The game marked the first action for the Utes since returning from their trip to Argentina and Uruguay two weeks ago.

Utah scored first in the 17th minute as some good defending by the forwards stripped the Gaucho defense of the ball and gave Hair a breakaway on the UCSB goal keeper, which the freshman forward slotted home for a 1-0 lead. UCSB tied the score just four minutes later from a corner kick.

Early in the second half, Hair struck again after a free kick from midfield. Christine Quinn hit a long ball into the Gaucho defensive third, where Kelly Isleib headed it on to a streaking Hair who slammed it into the Gaucho net for a 2-1 Ute lead. The Gauchos tied it up four minutes later when Utah goal keeper, Emalee Rogers, was ruled to have fouled a forward in the box for a penalty kick, which was put away to make it 2-2.

The Utes quickly regained a lead at 3-2 just three minutes later after some nice wing play by Hair set up Isleib in front of the net, where she tapped it in. However, UCSB would tie it up for good in the 66th minute and the Utes would have to settle for a draw.

The game marked the first action of the spring for two Utah freshmen defenders. Morgan Skeen, played the full game in her return after ACL reconstruction surgery in October. And Alyssa Toomey saw limited action after spending the last 3 months recovering from shoulder surgery.

“There are many things that we try to accomplish with the spring games and, overall, this was another important part of the process”, said coach Rich Manning. “Players are being given opportunities to sharpen their game in a very competitive environment. We are improving tremendously in our ball movement and have been quite dangerous in front of the goal. We still need to improve defensively as a team and to understand the important moments. And we will continue to work on these things.”

The Utes will continue action in the Toyota College Classic on Sunday, April 6 with a contest against the Pepperdine Waves. Kickoff will be at 9:45 A.M. Pacific Time. For more information about the event, go to www.collegeclassic.com and click on the California link.