MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Southern Utah soccer team wrapped up their first road trip of 2018 Sunday afternoon with a 4-1 loss to Central Michigan.

"It's always tough to come on the road and play two very strong teams. It was going to be a test for us which was the idea. We wanted to come out and play teams that we would see at the end of the season," head coach Fred Thompson said. "It's one thing to train and it's another thing to play against opposition that wants to beat you. We wanted to give as many kids that we could that opportunity over the weekend and it was good to see them play against someone other than ourselves."

It was all Chippewas in the first half as they scored two goals while keeping the Thunderbirds off the board. Southern Utah weren't without opportunities in the first half however, as Summer Soriano, Ellee Layton, and Allyson Carlisle all took shots in the first half.

As with Friday's match against Michigan State, the second half was an improvement on the first for the Thunderbirds. The team took more shots while limiting the opportunities for CMU. The Chippewas were still able to add two more goals to their lead however.

In the 71st minute, Devri Hartle scored her first goal of the season and the first goal for the team on the season when the ball found its way to her feet right in front of the goalkeeper and Hartle was able to strike it past her.

"The cool part about the goal was that it came from a lot of hard work. We were scrambling, getting the ball back, pushing forward into the box, and fighting for second and third balls," Thompson said. "It wasn't beautiful, but we showed that with some hard work and perseverance we can get the ball into the net."

The Thunderbirds will return home this week and host UNLV for their 2018 regular season home opener on Thursday August 23.

"We will continue to build towards conference play. We'll keep getting better with each game, we'll tighten up and fix a few things in between games," Thompson said. "As we continue to step up the intensity and the players learn more about how we want them to play, we'll keep taking those steps forward and we'll be alright."

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