RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Traveling to face Cal Baptist in the regular season’s penultimate match, the SUU soccer team fell 3-0 on Sunday night.
Early in the match – just the fifth minute to be exact – the Thunderbirds found themselves down 1-0 thanks to an Ava Westlund CBU goal.
Not long after, the Lancers would make it 2-0. This time, Jessica Ramirez would find the back of the net in the ninth minute.
SUU would record its first shot of the match in the 12th minute, following up with another in the 17th.
The T-birds couldn’t find a way through, however, and Cal Baptist would make it 3-0 in the 19th minute. Kaylee Hauck would tally the goal that would prove to be the final one of the game.
Southern Utah would only record one shot the remainder of the half as they went to the break trailing 3-0.
The Thunderbirds would play much better in the second half, recording six shots, including four on target.
The three-goal deficit would prove too much to overcome, however, as the Lancers would secure the win.
With the defeat, the T-birds fall to 3-11-3 overall and 2-6-1 in the Western Athletic Conference.
Despite the loss, SUU still has everything to play for in the regular season finale. They travel to St. George to battle Utah Tech, and depending on other results around the conference, could need a win or a draw to secure the final berth in the upcoming WAC Women’s Soccer Tournament in Orem.
“The first 20 minutes were not good enough. The last 60 was very good with a second-half shutout, and we created some good chances,” Thunderbirds’ head coach Kai Edwards said.
If you had told me this summer, going into the last weekend, we would be sitting in fourth place and the last playoff spot, I would have taken it. Whelp, that’s just the spot we are in. All to play for in the last game to earn a spot in the tourney.”
Up next
Southern Utah (3-11-3, 2-6-1 WAC) wraps up the regular season with a rivalry match at Utah Tech on Sunday, Nov. 2.
The match will kick off at 6 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.
Photo courtesy of SUU Athletics.
