University of Washington
5-4-1
Utah
6-2-1
Utah Edges Out Huskies 1-0
September 23, 2016 | Women's Soccer
SEATTLE – In their first Pac-12 match of the season in front of over 1,200 fans, the Washington women's soccer team came out attacking against Utah, but ultimately fell 1-0 tonight in a tough contest at Husky Soccer Stadium.
"The upside is that we played much better soccer tonight than we've seen in the last four games," said Washington head coach Lesle Gallimore. "Obviously we created enough chances to go ahead in the game, in the first half and the second half, and at the end of the day that's what the game is about, scoring goals. You have to score goals to relieve the pressure from your defense."
In the first half the Huskies were able to keep a majority of the action in Utah's half, taking six shots and keeping Utah from taking a single shot in the first 45. In the 16th minute of action, junior Becca Schoales took a shot from just outside the box that curved to the left of the post, the Dawgs closest look of the first half. The UW defense played tough to begin the match, leading Utah in shots, corners three to none and shots on goal two to none at halftime.
Intensity increased in the second half with each team looking to take the lead, as four fouls were called within the first six minutes of play. Utah had a close call early when Paola Van der Veen took a shot that was saved by Kaylyn Smith, with the Utes booting the rebound into the back of the net, only to be called for an offside on the play.
In the 57th minute, Dominique Bond-Flasza took a shot from outside the box after a Husky corner, but the Utah keeper was able to make the stop. UW was awarded a second straight corner after Bond-Flasza's shot was deflected out of bounds, followed by two shots and a third straight corner, but Washington was unable to put one in the back of the net.
"In the final third you have to be much more dangerous than we were tonight and we talked about that before the game," said Gallimore. "We just didn't make their keeper make enough saves and we weren't dangerous enough in front of the goal and couldn't put one away. We just didn't have that killer instinct, and that's what you have to have in this league."
In the 71st minute, after a corner by Utah, Washington was whistled for a hand ball while trying to push the ball out of danger in the box, setting up a penalty kick. Senior Taylor Slattery snuck a ball to the left of Smith's outstretched glove, giving Utah the 1-0 lead.
"It was unfortunate on the hand ball and a great finish by them," said Gallimore. "They started playing direct after the goal and they did a good job of holding the ball."
Battling for possession in order to set up a solid attack, the Dawgs were finally able to get opportunities on goal within the last few minutes of the match. The clock ran out on UW however, moving their record to 5-4-1 on the season and 0-1 in conference.
"If we create seven corners and they create five, we have got to get something out of our restarts," said Gallimore. "We create fourteen shots and they create four, that's the tale of the game, at the end of the game that's the score. If you want to be a big time player in this conference and you're playing upfront or you're playing in the midfield you have to make a name for yourself by being lethal in front of the goal, and someone's got to step up and do that for us and we haven't seen it yet."
The Huskies continue their Pac-12 schedule on the road next weekend with two tough matches against No. 20 California on Thursday September 29th, and No. 1 Stanford on Sunday October 2nd. Each game will be televised by the Pac-12 Network.
Team Stats
Slattery, Taylor (1)
UTAH Slattery, Taylor PENALTY KICK GOAL, goal number 1 for season.
72:02
