DENVER, Colo. – Finishing a two-match road swing, Southern Utah soccer was defeated 4-1 at Denver on Sunday afternoon.
It didn’t take long for the Pioneers to find a goal in the match, with Alanna Raimondo making it 1-0 in the fifth minute.
Facing an early deficit, SUU settled into the game and began to create chances of its own. The T-birds would record their first shot in the ninth minute, then followed up with four more in the next 15.
Despite creating multiple scoring chances, it would be Denver that would notch the next goal. Shay Payne would make it 2-0 in the 29th for the perennial Summit League title contenders.
The 2-0 score would hold for the final quarter hour of the first half.
Second half
Southern Utah came out firing in the second frame, cutting the deficit to 2-1 just under five minutes in.
Avery Kyle sent a cross in from the right side, finding the feet of Whitney Gardner, who slotted it into the back of the net for her first goal of the season.
The T-birds would create a few more chances over the final 40 minutes, but a pair of Denver goals in the 68th and 86th minutes closed the door on any comeback attempt.
In the end, the Pioneers would finish out a 4-1 victory.
With the defeat, SUU falls to 0-3-2 on the season.
“One of the better teams in the country went out and won the game; credit to them. We had some very good moments and controlled most of the second half. They were lethal on the counter and set play, and we didn’t defend either well enough,” Southern Utah head coach Kai Edwards said.
“The score line is a fact. What is also a fact for anyone who watched the game is that we had some really good moments and long stretches of very good soccer. The goal we scored to make it 2-1 was a class cross and finish by Avery and Whitney.
I’m excited to play one game a week for four weeks and get back to training,” Edwards added.
Gardner nearing all-time points mark
Scoring the lone SUU goal of the match, redshirt senior forward Whitney Gardner registered two points on Sunday, moving her into a tie for second all-time in the program record books (44).
Currently, Gardner is tied with T-bird soccer legend Ally Thimsen and just three points away from breaking the all-time mark (46), set by SUU Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Stacey Brinkman.
The goal on Sunday was also the 16th of Gardner’s collegiate career, moving just four away from tying the school record set by Thimsen (20) from 2014-17.
While Gardner is nearing multiple all-time program marks, she is already level for the most assists in Thunderbird history with 12.
Up next
Southern Utah (0-3-2) returns to Cedar City for the first of four straight home matches over a three-week stretch.
First, the T-birds will face regional foe UNLV on Sunday, Sep. 7 at 1 p.m. MT. The match can be seen on ESPN+.
Photo courtesy of SUU Athletics.
