Thunderbirds Down UC Riverside in Overtime

CEDAR CITY, Utah, 9/20/13 – Southern Utah freshman midfielder Shelby Green notched her first career goal while freshman goalkeeper Elyssa Hashimoto added her first shutout to help SUU (3-5-0) take its first program win over visiting UC Riverside (3-5-1) on Friday. The two teams needed an extra period to determine a tightly contested defensive matchup that ended in the 97th minute as Green used a header to redirect a cross from Alyssa Gomez into the left side of the net.

“Anytime you win in overtime it has an extra emotion to it, because there is such a build up to it, especially in a 0-0 game,” commented SUU head coach Becky Hogan. “You could tell right from warm-ups that it was going to be a special day. The team was on-point from the moment they walked out.”

Scoring opportunities were hard to come by for both sides in the match, UC Riverside holding an 8-5 shooting advantage in regulation. SUU came back with two tries in overtime however, including the game-winning conversion, to set the final count at 9-7.

The Thunderbirds held their opponent scoreless for the first time this year as the defense backed Hashimoto in her first shutout as a goalkeeper at SUU.

“Hashi was good for this type of a team where they are trying to serve it and cross it, trying to be really direct. She has got really great hands,” explained Hogan. “She played great today. She made some great saves, soft hands where she just pulled the ball out of the air.”

The Thunderbirds improve to 2-0 at home this season and will look to stay unbeaten on their own field when they host UTEP this Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Coverage of SUU soccer is available at www.suutbirds.com.

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Players Mentioned

#12 Alyssa Gomez: MF; 5' 5"; Freshman

#5 Shelby Green: MF; 5' 7"; Freshman

#0 Elyssa Hashimoto: GK; 5' 8"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#12 Alyssa Gomez
: 5' 5"; Freshman
: MF

#5 Shelby Green
: 5' 7"; Freshman
: MF

#0 Elyssa Hashimoto
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: GK

Players Mentioned

#12 Alyssa Gomez

#5 Shelby Green

#0 Elyssa Hashimoto

Players Mentioned

#12 Alyssa Gomez

#5 Shelby Green

#0 Elyssa Hashimoto