Utah Closes Non-Conference Schedule

September 15, 2015

Match-up: Utah vs. Utah State
Date: Friday, Sept. 11 
Kickoff: 4:30 p.m. MT 
Location: Ute Field
Promotion: RED OUT 
TV: Pac-12 Mountain

Live Stats

Match-up: Utah vs. Loyola Marymount
Date: Sunday, Sept. 20
Kickoff: 1 p.m. MT 
Location: Ute Field 
Live Stream
Live Stats

Weekend at a Glance

Utah soccer (3-2-2) completes the home portion of its non-conference schedule with matches against Utah State (4-3-1) and Loyola Marymount (5-2-0). The Utes and Aggies will resume their annual rivalry as part of a Red Out on Friday at 4:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on the Pac-12’s Mountain affiliate. The Lions visit on Sunday with the contest set to kick-off at 1 p.m.

Pac-12 Student Awareness Week 
This week, the entire Pac-12 is dedicated to highlighting the complete athletes on every team in the conference. From the notes to the television coverage on Pac-12 Networks, this week is designed to celebrate the all-around success of the talented student-athletes at all 12 schools. 

Manning Making History 
With one more victory, Rich Manning will earn his 150th career win at Utah. During his tenure, Manning has established Utah soccer as an elite program in the west.

Manning has coached the Utes to an NCAA Tournament berth in six of his years at the helm. Prior to joining the Pac-12, Manning directed Utah to three Mountain West Conference regular-season championships (2003, `05, `06) and a pair of league tournament titles (2003, `04). 

Luke Leading the Way
Utah soccer’s Lindsey Luke was named the Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Week on August 25 for her season-opening performances. 

Luke made seven saves as Utah earned a 1-0 victory over Marquette. She then made three saves in a 0-0 draw with No. 21 DePaul. With both games going into overtime, Luke racked up over 200 minutes of scoreless play.

No Utah player has earned more accolades from the Pac-12 in program history than Luke. This was the sixth time she has been named Goalkeeper of the Week. 

An All-Pac-12 performer and NSCAA All-Region selection, Luke needs 64 saves and six shutouts this year to set the Utah career marks in both categories. She currently leads the Pac-12 with 4.71 saves per contest.

Program Progress
The Utes are aiming for the seventh NCAA Tournament appearance and second in three years as it embarks on the 2015 season. After a third-place finish in 2013, its highest ever, the squad slumped to a .500 mark in 2014. 

The Utes started last season with an 8-1-1 mark after a draw with No. 4 Stanford opened Pac-12 play. However, Utah lost two significant players to injury and came undone in close games, dropping five one-goal contests in league play.

Last Weekend’s Result
Mikayla Elmer scored the first goal of her career as the Utes drew at Boise State, 1-1 in double overtime. Utah was unlucky to have a penalty called against them in the final minute and the Broncos scored the equalizer with 22 seconds remaining in regulation.

Mariah Makes Pac-12 All-Freshman Team
In her first season with the Utes, Mariah Elmer scored three goals, including the game-winner at local foe Utah State. She played in 17 games, starting three, before incurring a late-season injury. 

After her two goals at San Diego, she now ranks 10th in the Pac-12. She became the first player to have a multi-goal game for the Utes since teammate Megan Trabert two seasons ago at Washington State. 

Utah has placed a player on the All-Freshman team all four seasons since joining the Pac-12 as teammates Katie Rogers and Lindsey Luke were also honored after their debut campaigns.

Trabert a Team Leader
During her four years at Utah, Megan Trabert has been a stalwart in defense. The team captain has started every game since arriving on campus, playing almost every minute in the process.

Last season she tied for the team lead with four goals and finished with three assists, giving her 10 points. Not only is she a fantastic player, but she also excels off the field, as she was selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team as well as being named a Pac-12 All-Academic choice for the second-straight year.

Megan’s grandfather, Tony, was a former Wimbledon, U.S. Open, and French Open champion and the no. 1- ranked tennis player in the world.

Utah’s New Class
The Utes added eight true freshmen to the team for the 2015 season; Max Flom, Eden Jacobsen, Paige Johnson, Allie Millerberg, Hailey Skolmoski, Shelby Stewart, Liberty Taylor and Paola van der Veen.

Skolmoski has started every game while Van der Veen had started the first four before sitting out two matches with an illness and returning last weekend. Flom and Jacobsen have started three contests and appeared in every contest. Millerberg and Taylor have also seen action this year for the Utes.

Series History
Utah is 13-4-0 all-time against the Aggies with a perfect 8-0-0 record in Salt Lake City. The Utes own a 44-7-6 record against Mountain West Conference teams at Ute Field and also possess an 83-26-13 (.736) overall mark. They are unbeaten in their last six matches against teams from the MWC.

Last season, Utah won 3-0 in Logan behind the first collegiate goals from Mariah Elmer and Natalie Vukic as well as a three-point performance from Katie Rogers. The last game here was also a 3-0 Ute victory with Taylor Slattery scoring her first collegiate goal and Kaycee Buckley adding a tally. Lindsey Luke notched shutouts in both meetings, making six saves.

Utah has never beaten Loyola Marymount in four overall meetings (0-2-2). The last contest between the two occurred here in 2010, a 2-0 Utah loss. The Utes are 17-36-6 against teams from the West Coast Conference, 1-1-0 this season with both results on the road against BYU and San Diego. Utah is 9-14-1 at home against WCC foes.

Scouting the Opposition
Utah State is coming off its best offensive performance in four years after winning 5-3 against Idaho State. The Aggies were led by junior forward Jessica Brooksby who earned Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week honors after scoring a hat trick against the Bengals. Senior Jeannie Woller is the top goalkeeper for USU, with a -3-1 record. She has a goals against average of 1.29, allowing eight goals this season, while tallying 38 saves.

Loyola Marymount has won five in a row, all at home, after a 1-0 victory over UC Riverside on Sunday. Sophomore defender Jill Farley was named the West Coast Conference Women’s Soccer Player of the Week after playing all 187 minutes of action last weekend. She also scored the game-winning golden goal in an upset of No. 21/23 Long Beach State. LMU has four shutouts on the season and has allowed just seven goals (0.96 GAA).

Utah Soccer Earns NSCAA Academic Awards
The Utah women’s soccer team earned a NSCAA Team Academic Award for the fifth year in a row and 13th time overall. The award started being handed out in 1996 and the Utes are second among Pac-12 schools (Washington, 14). 

A total of 582 soccer teams over three divisions posted a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher, thereby earning the NSCAA Team Academic Award for the 2013-14 academic year. Utah posted a 3.33 team GPA and was fourth among all Pac-12 teams for the academic year.

Utah had three players, including returnee Katie Rogers, named as NSCAA Women’s University Division Scholar All-West Region honorees. 

Season Ticket Scarves
Season tickets are $20 and come with a Utah Soccer Scarf. Your scarf serves as your season ticket and will get you admission to all home games. All seating is general admission. To get your 2015 season ticket scarf, visit http://utahtickets.com/soccer/#single-games or call 801-581-UTIX.

Trending Videos
 
IMG Academy Top 150 Rankings
see full ranking:
Boys Girls