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.

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+.

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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.