Facing Cal State Fullerton away and Northern Arizona at home, the T-birds earned a pair of draws in the past week.
Here is a recap of the two games before SUU heads to Northern California looking to notch its first victory.
Thursday: at Cal State Fullerton
Playing on the road in the first game of the week, Southern Utah battled to a 1-1 draw with Big West Conference member Cal State Fullerton.
The T-birds took the early lead in the 14th minute when Whitney Garner delivered a through ball to Sammie Sofonia. Sofonia took a touch and unleashed a rocket from outside the box that found the back of the net for the 1-0 advantage.
Sammie gives us a 1-0 lead from deep!
Thunderbirds – 1
CSUF – 0 pic.twitter.com/H6tCEjA6Pe— SUU Soccer (@SUUSoccer) September 1, 2023
SUU took the lead into halftime, but the Titans found the equalizer 10 minutes after the break. Kaylin Raibon found the back of the net for the home team to make the score 1-1.
The two sides were unable to find a winner in the final 35 minutes, settling for a draw.
Cal State Fullerton outshot SUU in the match (17-8), while also edging out the visitors in shots on target (4-3).
Sammie Sofonia was the offensive highlight of the game for the T-birds, notching her second goal of the season and registering all three of the team’s shots on goal.
Sunday: vs. Northern Arizona
Playing at home to close the week, SUU fought to a 1-1 draw with the defending Big Sky Conference champion Northern Arizona.
The T-birds once again scored the first goal of the match, thanks to a Whitney Gardner goal in the 21st minute.
The lead did not last long, however, as the Lumberjacks equalized just five minutes later.
The two early goals were the only ones of the game, as the two teams kept each other off the scoresheet for the final 65 minutes of action.
Goalkeeper Julia Ortega had a standout game in net for the T-birds, notching eight saves.
The defensive backline of Aubrey Murray, Kiki Stewart, and Lacey Kimble each played 90 minutes while absorbing 17 shots from the NAU offense.
“It was a competitive game versus the Big Sky champions. I don’t even know the last time we got a point off them, probably a couple of years ago,” said SUU head coach Kai Edwards.
“I think getting a point on a Sunday after a long road trip playing a good team there’s an easy way to have a letdown after the Fullerton result, which was arguably the top result in the last 10 years. We played well and played hard and so did they,” Edwards added.
While the results have overall been positive so far in 2023 (only two losses through six matches), the T-birds did jump ahead again only to surrender the lead for the fourth time this season.
“I’d rather fix how to keep the lead than fix how to get a lead,” Edwards said.
“My optimistic side of me says we’d be in different position if we were trying to figure out ‘how do we go up goals?’, ‘how do we score goals?’ and stuff like that. I think we’re also discrediting who we’re playing. We’re playing better teams than we played last year…our first three opponents have two losses combined. We are playing teams that will make you pay if you get sloppy, or they just make good plays. I think fixing playing from in front is way more fun than fixing playing from behind,” he added.
And even though the T-birds have yet to notch a win after recording the most wins in program history last season, there are positives to the start of the campaign for the team.
“In six games we have two losses and in the last five games, we’ve trailed for 59 total seconds,” Edwards mentioned.
“And like one of the coaches from NAU just said ‘your team had a choice when you gave up the lead late versus Northern Iowa to fold the year or to compete harder. But your team bounced back, and it became the pivotal change instead of the death knell’ and the UNI game is the reason why,” Edwards added.
Up next
Southern Utah (0-2-4) now heads back out on the road, playing two matches in Northern California this week as they search for the first victory of 2023.
“We have the University of Pacific, a very good WCC team on Friday, and then San Jose State on Sunday who won the Mountain West last year and they don’t have a game on Friday, so they’ll be well rested,” Edwards said of the upcoming opponents.
“It’s two teams that I’d rather try to get up a goal against and figure out how to win from the lead because they are two talented teams that can put four on you. But right now, the way we’re playing we can also put four on anybody,” Edwards added.
The T-birds will first face the Pacific Tigers of the West Coast Conference on Friday, September 8 at 7 p.m. MT. The match can be streamed on ESPN+.
To close the week, SUU will match up with the San Jose State Spartans, a 2022 NCAA Tournament participant and reigning conference champion.
The game against SJSU will kick off on Sunday, September 10 at 12 p.m. MT.
SUU football falls just short of historic upset in season opener
