Playing in its home conference opener, the T-birds fell to Grand Canyon on Thursday night.
SUU fell behind early in the match and was never able to recover. Grand Canyon took a 1-0 lead in just the eighth minute, before making it 2-0 in the 36th minute.
However, the second half started much differently for the T-birds as they pushed to try and get a goal to get back into the game.
SUU had multiple shots in the opening moments of the second frame, but the Lopes found a third goal in the 54th minute for a 3-0 advantage.
The home team continued to push the attack forward, but Grand Canyon exposed the space created by a stretched-out backline to add a fourth goal in the 68th minute.
The T-birds continued to create chances even after falling into a 4-0 hole, finally breaking through in the 73rd minute. Whitney Gardner took a pass from Steph Roper, found open space, and beat the GCU keeper to the bottom corner with a nifty finish.
Whitney with the G🔥AL
SUU: 1
GCU: 4 pic.twitter.com/GnxMLL1H3Y— SUU Soccer (@SUUSoccer) September 28, 2023
The teams would battle it out for the final 15-plus minutes as the road team secured the victory.
“They’re a good team, and a good team made good plays. You can’t give good teams an edge, and we did,” SUU coach Kai Edwards said of Grand Canyon.
“To be honest, and I’m not a rosy coach, but it was actually one our best first halves versus a good team that we’ve played. We limited chances. A future NWSL draft pick buried a goal. We created some chances and in the second half we created good opportunities going forward, we just didn’t pull the trigger. We were committed to it (pushing forward) and they did it,” he added.
Grand Canyon was able to muster more shot attempts in the match than SUU (17-10), including a 9-6 edge in shots on goal.
And while the T-birds had plenty of chances – during the second half in particular – the team struggled to convert them.
“Some parts, you just have to shoot more. I think part of that is continuing to get yourself in better positions, so the shots are higher percentage,” said Edwards.
“But then I think it’s burying it. At this time there’s a reason why some people are all-conference, and some are not and right now the people who want to try to get us to the conference tournament in front of goal have to play at an all-conference level, which is burying chances,” he added.
The loss drops SUU to 0-6-5 on the season, including 0-1-1 in WAC action.
“Our team, to be honest… we’re sharp but we just ran into another team that’s very good but right now I’m good with where we’re at,” Edwards said of the T-birds.
Up next
The defeat still leaves the T-birds looking for their first win of 2023, but doing so in WAC play presents its own challenge.
“The WAC is awesome because it holds you accountable if you don’t hold yourself accountable,” Edwards said.
“You go from playing a top player on Thursday to a top player on Sunday. I love it because it forces you to either hold yourself accountable or the opponent will and all it’s doing is challenging us to play at a higher level every single moment,” he added.
SUU will turn its attention to another home match to close out the week, facing Cal Baptist on Sunday, October 1.
“(Cal Baptist) is another really good team,” Edwards said.
“They’re very good, they have Power 5 results this year and wins. They have Lourdes (Bosch) who I think scored a goal against us three years ago when she was at UNLV and last year did well, she’s a top talent.”
The match between the T-birds and Lancers will kick off at 1 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.
