Breann Lujan-Halcon
Cowgirl soccer pulled out a win over the Utah State Aggies Sunday 2-1. The victory was Wyoming’s first triumph over Utah State since 2002, and lifted the Cowgirls to 5-4-1 in conference and 9-5-4 overall.
“They’re a good team. I thought we had a lot of fight to us I thought we played really good soccer,” Cowgirls head coach Pete Cuadrado said Sunday. “I thought we did have the majority of the chances and to get the result was well deserved.”
Sophomore forward Shaina Ashouri gave the Cowgirls the first advantage of the match early in the first half. Freshman midfielder Annika Clayton won the ball on the far right side of Utah State’s half of the field and dribbled up the sideline crossing to Ashouri in front of goal. Ashouri met the ball and kicked it in right past the Aggie keeper giving Wyoming the leg up for the next 63 minutes of the match.
“In big games like this you just have to work on the little things like connecting passes. Don’t do too much and then the big things will come when you do the little things,” sophomore forward Kaitlyn Lomsnes said. “So that’s what I thought: just get back and defend first if anything and when you get the chance pull forward.”
After multiple runs on goal, the Aggies evened the score in the 80th minute.
The tie existed briefly as the Cowgirls regained the lead five minutes later with a goal from Lomsnes, her first of the season after missing multiple games due to injury. Ashouri was credited with the assist, feeding the ball through to Lomsnes to shoot in the game winner.
“Well obviously getting towards the end of the game they’re getting more direct. They’re getting more pushy and putting more numbers up front and coming at us and to be honest they just finished a chance and that’s what it was. They caught us one time, split our back line and the girl finished, give them credit. I mean they’re a good team, they’re not just going to go away. Obviously they capitalized on one of their opportunities,” Cuadrado said.
Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Cassidy Entsminger had four saves for Wyoming, one in the first half and three in the second.
“It feels great we needed both of these wins this weekend and it came at a crucial time in the season,” Entsminger said. “We need to get CSU next week.”
The Cowgirls will close out their regular season on the road in a border war battle against Colorado State (3-14-2) on Friday in Ft. Collins. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.
“I think it’s a team we need to get after early,” coach Cuadrado said. “Anytime a Wyoming team plays a Colorado State team we know they’re going to bring their all so we need to make sure we’re ready to go. That’s the game that we get three points it solidifies us in the conference tournament and that’s all we can ask for right now we control our own fate and that’s what we want.”
