|
|
Adele Letro scored the game-tying and game-winning goals Thursday night.
|
Oct. 18, 2007
SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah women's soccer team had never lost to Air Force coming into Thursday night's match at Ute Field. Late in the game, it looked as if that streak was coming to an end. The Utes trailed 1-0 with less than two minutes remaining.
But Utah (10-2-3, 2-0-1 MWC) found a way to tie the game and then take a 2-1 win in overtime.
A sloppy first half led to a scoreless tie at the intermission.
"We came out fired up, but we weren't sharp," Manning said of the first half. "We played better the second half. We have a lot of confidence coming from behind."
In the 68th minute, Air Force (2-11-2, 0-4-0) made Utah do just that. The Falcons' Katherine Slogic scored from six yards out on the left side, off a cross from Corbin Sanford, putting Air Force on top of a stunned Ute side, 1-0.
"We came out slow and woke up when they scored on us," junior forward Adele Letro (Davis, Calif.) said. "After they scored we got into our huddle and said it was time to play."
Despite Utah's resolve following the Falcon goal, it looked as though Air Force was going to hang on. The Utes started really pressuring Falcon goalkeeper Ashlee Curtis, but couldn't get anything past her.
Then, in the 89th minute, the Utes finally got a good look. Senior defender Kiley Jones (San Clemente, Calif.) found freshman midfielder Lauren Hair (Alpine, Utah) on the right flank. Hair was able to cross the ball to Letro, who was able to poke the ball past Curtis, tying the contest at 1-1.
In the extra frame, Utah continued to push hard and attack. With just more than one minute remaining in the first overtime, Letro took a through pass into the box and was one-one-one with the goalkeeper. But she was fouled from behind and awarded a penalty kick. Letro calmly shot the penalty kick into the right side of the net, past Curtis and gave Utah the improbable 2-1 victory.
|
|
 |
The Utes are back in action again Sunday, when they host New Mexico in a 1 p.m. match at Ute Field.
-UU-
