Facing Nebraska-Omaha on Thursday, the T-birds scored first before a pair of late Omaha goals dropped the home side to 0-3 on the season.
SUU started the match strong, taking the lead in the seventh minute. With the T-birds having much of the ball early, Whitney Gardner unloaded a shot from well outside the box, just beating the outstretched hand of the Mavericks goalkeeper for the 1-0 lead and her first goal of the campaign. Steph Roper picked up the assist on the goal.
Whitney cashes from outside the box 😮💨
🐴: 0
🦅: 1 pic.twitter.com/9OeZlkT797— SUU Soccer (@SUUSoccer) August 22, 2024
After scoring the opener, SUU continued its solid start, creating multiple chances as they controlled much of the possession for the opening half-hour.
Despite having much of the possession and better scoring opportunities in the opening half, the T-birds could not add to the lead, taking the one-goal advantage into halftime.
Southern Utah continued to hold on to the lead as Omaha came out in the second half looking to equalize. But as the visitors continued to push for a goal, they finally broke through.
The Mavericks tied the score at 1-1 in the 73rd minute and just 10 minutes later added a second goal to jump ahead 2-1.
SUU was unable to find an equalizer in the closing moments and fell to 0-3 on the season.
“We were able to score first for the first time this year which is good and for the most part, we played a good game versus a talented and mature team,” T-birds head coach Kai Edwards said of the match.
Edwards added, “We have a week to prepare for EWU and we will be focusing on controlling the controllables and finishing off a team. We are competing hard and as a team and that gets me excited.”
Up next
Southern Utah (0-3-0) now turns its attention to a former Big Sky Conference foe for its next match as it looks to notch its first win in 2024.
SUU will host Eastern Washington (1-1-0) on Thursday, August 29 at 2 p.m. MT. The game can be seen on ESPN+.
