Completing a season-opening two-match Nevada road trip, the SUU soccer team was dealt a 2-1 defeat by the Nevada Wolfpack on Sunday afternoon.
The T-birds fell behind early, as Nevada took a mere 28 seconds to find the back of the net.
Despite finding themselves in an early deficit, SUU battled to gain some control in the match.
Thanks to freshman midfielder Chelsea Loeser’s first career goal, finding an equalizer didn’t take long. In the 24th minute of the match, Loeser unleashed a shot from 30 yards out and beat the Wolfpack goalkeeper over the top to make it 1-1.
🤯🤯 Chelsea Loeser are you serious?? We are tied at one goal a piece! pic.twitter.com/RmFv7ptPz2
— SUU Soccer (@SUUSoccer) August 18, 2024
The two teams remained knotted up until just moments after the beginning of the second half. Much like in half number one, the Wolfpack needed little time to find a goal, taking a 2-1 lead in the 47th minute via a Rylee Husted score.
Both sides had more scoring chances as the game continued while the T-birds opened up searching for a tying goal.
Shots from SUU’s Loeser, Chiaki Takase, Yui Fujii, and a pair from Steph Roper couldn’t find the back of the net for the visitors, as Nevada held off the T-birds for a 2-1 win.
“Today was a tough loss because we had some very good moments of toughness and quality soccer,” Southern Utah head coach Kai Edwards said after the match.
“We created a lot of chances, and the goals came from some very good soccer. We played two tough Mountain West teams on the road in high heat and will leave a better team for it,” Edwards added.
Up next
Southern Utah (0-2-0) now returns to Cedar City to play its first home match of the young season.
The T-birds will welcome last season’s Summit League finalist, Nebraska-Omaha (1-0-1) to Thunderbird Field on Thursday, August 22.
“UNO comes to town (on Thursday) and they are very experienced, they start about 8-9 seniors and are a quality side that went to the NCAA Tournament just two years ago,” Edwards said of the Mavericks.
“The competitive non-league schedule continues, and we will be ready,” he added.
The match is slated to begin at 4 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.
