With a first-ever Mountain West title on the line, Utah State soccer beat Colorado State 1-0 in the tournament championship match on Saturday afternoon.

As two of the top defensive teams faced off for an NCAA Tournament bid, it took until the 78th minute for the scoreless deadlock to be broken.

USU sophomore forward Tess Werts placed a pass directly into the path of freshman forward Kate Christian, who sent a right-footed shot past the Rams’ keeper for the 1-0 lead.

The Aggies were able to deny CSU any attempt at an equalizer, closing out the final 12 minutes to secure the first title in USU’s Mountain West Conference era.

With the win the Aggies improve to 14-7-1 on the season.

Defense shining

While Christian’s goal gave Utah State the title, the defense did its part as well.

The Aggies did not allow a shot on goal during the first 36 minutes of the match on the way to recording a shutout. USU’s defense has also allowed just one goal in the past seven contests – all Aggie victories – while notching shutouts in six of those matches.

Racking up the honors

Four Utah State players were named to the Mountain West All-Tournament Team, with senior midfielder Whitney Lopez leading the way as the tournament’s MVP. Graduate goalkeeper Diera Walton, sophomore midfielder Kaitlyn Richins, and junior defender Addy Symonds-Weichers were also named to the all-tournament team.

Six Aggies were also recently named to the 2023 All-Mountain West Teams, highlighted by senior defender Kelsey Kaufusi being voted the MW Defensive Player of the Year.

Kaufusi and and sophomore midfielder Kaylie Chambers were selected to the all-conference first team, while senior defender Kylie Olsen and goalkeeper Diera Walton were chosen for the second team.

Freshman midfielder Summer Diamond was rewarded with a spot on the all-newcomer team, and third-year coach Manny Martins was selected as the MW Coach of the Year.

Up next

After securing its first conference tournament crown since winning the WAC regular season and tournament double in 2012, the Aggies will find out their NCAA Tournament opponent next.

The full bracket will be announced on Monday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. MT and can be streamed on NCAA.com.

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Spencer Rodak
Spencer has always been passionate about sports, growing up playing and following various sports. He ran cross country in high school and began his journey in sports media in 2017 as a journalism intern at The Spectrum & Daily News. Since then, his work has been published in numerous outlets including Deseret News, Standard-Examiner, St. George News, Southern Utah Now, SUU's Thunderground, SB Nation's RSL Soapbox, FanSided's Venom Strikes, fan-insider.com, The Spurs Web, and Iron County Today. Spencer is the founder of Stadium Sportzz and both the Sportzz with Spencer and Mountain States Sports Report podcasts. His experience extends to public address announcing, having first served as the PA announcer for Southern Utah University soccer in 2017 and as a high school sports PA announcer. He is now entering his fourth year as a PA announcer at Utah Tech University, where he also occasionally takes on the role of in-game emcee. Spencer's versatility also extends to radio, where at The Fan Sports Network he produced high school and Utah Tech athletics broadcasts, hosted the weekly Region 9 Football Tailgate Show, and appeared daily on The Drive. Now working towards completing his Bachelor's degree in Media Studies, Spencer was recently named the Sports Director at Utah Tech University's 91.3 The Blaze for the 2024-25 year. He will host a weekly show and serve as a play-by-play broadcaster, continuing his dedication to sports journalism and broadcasting. When he isn’t talking, writing about, or watching sports, Spencer enjoys traveling and spending time with his amazing wife.

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