Taking on Colorado College at home on Thursday, the SUU soccer team won 2-0 for its first victory in 2024.
The first half got off to a quick start, with both sides registering a shot within the first six minutes.
After the opening few minutes, both teams settled in on defense and there weren’t many scoring opportunities for either side. The Thunderbirds ended the first half with five shot attempts, but the match remained scoreless heading into the halftime break.
Southern Utah came out in the second half with renewed energy, determined to break the scoreless tie as they looked for their first win.
A big second half
It didn’t take the T-birds long to create their first scoring chance of the second period, and they took advantage of the opportunity. In the 52nd minute, Yui Fujii found Whitney Gardner, who delivered a near-perfect through ball to a sprinting Sarah Assumma in the middle of the field. Assumma took one touch and placed the ball through the legs of the Colorado College goalkeeper for the 1-0 advantage.
Whitney Gardner ➡️ Sarah Assumma for the lead‼️ pic.twitter.com/3Ea8aCxz9Q
— SUU Soccer (@SUUSoccer) September 5, 2024
Not content with a one-goal cushion, SUU continued pushing for more scoring chances in the final third.
Almost exactly five minutes after scoring the opening goal, the T-birds found a second score in the 57th minute. Gardner once again tallied the assist, while Assuma secured a brace as SUU jumped in front 2-0.
Sarah Assumma with her second goal of the game 🤯
Thunderbirds lead 2-0 in the second half‼️ pic.twitter.com/RAbyhdVGFu
— SUU Soccer (@SUUSoccer) September 5, 2024
Both teams had a few more chances at goals in the final 30-plus minutes, but the Thunderbirds kept the clean sheet to secure their first win of the 2024 season.
Southern Utah played a solid match, edging the Tigers in shots, shots on goal, and corner kicks. Darya Mosallaei tallied three saves in goal for SUU, notching her first career clean sheet as a T-bird. Four defenders – Rylan Tebbs, Aubrey Murray, Adelayo Oguntade, and Jenna Grider – played the full 90 minutes for the Thunderbirds as the team recorded its first shutout of the campaign.
Coach Edwards post-match
Following the match, I spoke with SUU head coach Kai Edwards, who gave his thoughts on the team’s performance.
Question: It’s the first win of 2024, how are you feeling?
Edwards: Yeah, we just competed, and I think it was coming from the Omaha game and the Nevada game, but we just competed more and more. Today we put, I would say, 75 minutes of competition together, but in this game, we didn’t get punished in the 15 minutes we didn’t compete. But two great goals, two great assists, and I mean you’ve gotta love shoutouts.
Question: Speaking of a clean sheet, it’s the first one of 2024. What does that mean for your defense?
Edwards: It’s big time. I mean, it was a slip and a mistake in the last game (1-1), so I think if you put the last two games together, they’ve given up one goal in the last four halves. It was like watching a hockey team—they were stacking the pads, putting their body on the line for the team, and flying around. They did whatever the moment needed to make a play.
Question: There weren’t a lot of chances in the first half, but what happened there at halftime? Did a switch get flipped or did you say something at halftime? Because both of those goals were within about 10 minutes of the second half starting.
Edwards: Yeah, I said something I can’t say again, but tactically what we said is we can slip behind their backs more and that’s where both goals came from was getting behind their backs, not as much wide, but getting behind them central a little bit more. It was a little bit of ‘guys just go out and compete.’ Like right now, where we are as a team, forget soccer, forget pretty, and just go compete and they did that and tactically got in behind them and it was great.
Question: On Sunday you’ve got Senior Day and Denver is in town. What are your thoughts on that matchup coming up?
Edwards: Denver’s a very good team, they won at (Texas) A&M already this year. They’re super talented, they’re playing Colorado tonight, but you know I think it’s our eight seniors who are ready for the day and to compete. I mean it’s gonna be a high-level game, they’re you know, I think they’re either ranked or should be ranked. So you know, it’s not the homecoming game but it is their Senior Day so I’m excited for it. It’s always good to play good teams and we’ll give it a go.
Gardner nears program assist record
After scoring the equalizer in the last match against Eastern Washington, Whitney Gardner moved into a tie for fifth place all-time in the SUU goal-scoring chart (13).
Now following a two-assist performance in today’s win, Gardner has recorded 11 career assists. This places her second on the all-time list, just one away from tying the all-time mark of 12 set by Riley Bassett from 2008-11.
Up next
Southern Utah (1-3-1) now turns its attention to Sunday, September 8 when they host last season’s Summit League finalist Denver before embarking on a two-match Idaho road trip. The match will also serve as this season’s Senior Day, as the T-birds honor eight seniors and their impact on the program.
The match will kick off at 12:30 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.
Photo credit @margauxxpics
