CEDAR CITY, Utah. - Three second-half goals by the Southern Utah University women's soccer team gave them a 3-1 victory over Utah Valley University at the Thunderbird Soccer Field Saturday afternoon.

The Thunderbirds put together a dominating performance, producing a 23-9 shot advantage and a taking a school single-match record 13 corner kicks to earn a victory in their final non-conference match of the season. Southern Utah received goals from sophomore forwards Missy Laszcano and Shelby Ostler in addition an own goal knocked in by the Wolverines to see SUU earn the 3-1 win and avenge its season-opening defeat to Utah Valley.

"It was great to see our kids put together a solid and impressive 90 minutes today," stated 10^th year head coach Brian Stock. "We recovered from the early goal, made some adjustments at the half and played the best 45 minutes we have all season to get the win."

Southern Utah was on the attack early and often but a couple nice saves by UVU keeper Lauren Sack kept them off the board. Despite taking an even number of shots, 7-7, and owning a 7-3 advantage in corner kicks, SUU trailed 1-0 at the half.

The early minutes of the second half saw the Thunderbirds dominate both sides of the ball, disrupting every UVU offensive bid to move up field and eventually putting together some nice attacks of their own that led to a match-tying goal by Lazcano. Following a rush by the Thunderbirds that saw junior midfielder Michelle Judd's shot sail wide, Lazcano, who had just checked in and earlier missed on a shot wide, won possession inside the box and headed a shot that hit the cross bar and bounced right back to her that she kicked in for the goal in the 67^th minute.

The Thunderbirds continued to rush and play solid soccer, turning away any type of offensive set by the Wolverines and turning them into their own attacks. Throughout the second half, SUU would dribble deep into the corners and either make crosses that would land in the box or would earn themselves corner kicks that junior midfielder Riley Bassett would take and land in the box. The constant pressure eventually led to a break for the Thunderbirds as a Bassett right corner landed in the box and was inadvertently headed by a UVU defender into the net for an SUU goal, giving the Thunderbirds a 2-1 lead in the 74^th minute.

"Missy has had a couple solid weeks of training and it was good to see her come through with a big goal for us today," commented Stock. "Riley was huge again for us, taking all but one of our corners and was able to land nearly every one inside the box. She continues to be a quiet and humble player that makes a gigantic impact and is emerging as a premiere player in the Summit League."

Southern Utah later went on to close out the match in fine fashion, holding possession deep in UVU territory in the closing minutes before a Wolverine attack was once again turned away and a clearing kick by the Thunderbirds found its way through the Utah Valley defense. Ostler got behind the UVU defenders along the left sideline, gained possession, side-stepped the charging keeper, gathered in the ball and kicked into the empty net with only a few seconds remaining.

Lost in the offensive highlights of the second half was the play of the SUU backline made up of senior captain Allison Thompson, sophomore captain Rachel Krenzer, junior Allyson Duda and sophomore Morgan Bridge in addition of redshirt sophomore keeper Charly Booth. The defense turned away a number of UVU attacks by winning nearly every loose ball and contesting every pass. Booth made a number of big time clearing kicks that led to SUU offensive attacks and stopped the only two shots she saw in the second half.

"We controlled the tempo throughout the second half by putting together a number of attacks that resulted in the goals," Stock added. "We played together very well today, a number of players contributed in great ways and we were able to come away with a big win to give us some great momentum heading into Summit League play next week.

Booth finished with four saves while Bassett took a team-high four shots-on-goal.

Southern Utah opens its Summit League schedule on the road next weekend, traveling to face IUPUI on Friday and Western Illinois on Sunday.