Aggie Soccer Captures First WAC Title with Win Over San Jose State

With its school-record sixth-straight win [Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008], the Utah State University soccer team did more than complete the grueling Hawai`i and San Jose State road trip with a sweep. With a 3-2 win over the Spartans, the Aggies captured their first ever Western Athletic Conference regular-season championship and earned the top seed in the upcoming WAC Tournament in Reno, Nev.

"We are just so proud to bring a championship back to Utah State," Aggie head coach Heather Cairns said. "It is the first championship in program history. It is a testament to all of the teams present and past, and it is a testament to our seniors. I am just so proud. It was a hard-fought match. San Jose State played really well."

 

The Aggies now boast the very lucky record of 11-7-1, 6-0 in conference action. With the win, the Aggies broke two school records for the most wins in a season with 11 and the most conference wins with six. The most overall matches a USU team had won was 10 (2003, 2006, 2007), while the most league matches won by an Aggie team was five (2006 and 2007).

 

San Jose State scored first in the 23rd minute when forward Roxy Kamal scored her second goal of the season off a give-and-go from forward Emmy Belding. Kamal deposited the ball in the upper right corner of the goal past USU senior goalkeeper Ali Griffin.

 

In the 40th minute, the Aggies tied the score when freshman Chandra Salmon scored her first collegiate goal. Salmon headed the ball in to the right corner off a free kick from junior defender Lindsey Smart.

 

Utah State took the 2-1 lead with the 44th minute, when sophomore midfielder Heather Pond scored her first goal of the season. Smart threw in the ball which was then taken by senior forward Candice Clark. Pond then headed in the ball for her third career goal. Pond played only 12 minutes and shot one shot but that was all she would need.

 

Less than a minute later, the Spartans tied the score for the second time. With less than 30 seconds remaining in the half, defender Jessica Ingram scored her first goal of the season. Off a Lauren Ng-Pinkerton corner kick, Ingram shot the ball to the far post for the goal.

 

Clark scored her third goal in her last two matches to give the Aggies the lead for good at 3-2 in the 57th minute. Clark, who scored both goals in the Aggies' road win over Hawai`i on Oct. 24, took the pass from Smart and scored the Aggies third header of the match.

 

Smart ended the match with a hat trick of sorts. With the three assists, Smart broke the Aggie all-time record for assists with 13. Clark now ties Aggie great Charity Weston for sixth all-time in career goals with 14.

 

"It was a shootout," Cairns said. "We didn't play that well in the first half. We struggled to get possession. They were more aggressive in the air, more aggressive tackling. It took us a while to get going. In the second half we were much better, winning more balls in the air."

 

USU ends the regular season with its third-straight road match traveling to Ruston, La., to face Louisiana Tech on Friday, Oct. 31, at 6 p.m. before heading to Reno as the top seed in the WAC Tournament, Nov. 6-9.