CEDAR CITY, Utah -- A historic outing for Southern Utah Soccer as the T-Birds tallied eight goals in a shutout victory over Saint Katherine 8-0.
With an aggressive start the Thunderbirds came out shooting and ready to attack. Kate Schirmer would score the first goal for the Thunderbirds in the 4th minute of the match, Gabriella Pagani got credited the assist off Schirmer's goal.
Seven shot attempts later the Thunderbirds would connect with the back of the net. Schirmer again attacked the right side of the Firebirds defensive and was able to break away in the 39th minute.
The T-Birds over the past two matches, combined for just eight shot attempts and at the end of the first half Southern Utah has already surpassed that number with 10 shot attempts. When asked about this head coach Kai Edwards said " their mentality is getting better and it's good to see them go out there and be aggressive and go for goals."
Entering the second half the T-Birds would continue to be aggressive. The next three goals for the Thunderbirds were all within three minutes of each other. Mekaylla White would score in the 51st minute off of a perfectly placed assist from Berkeley Larsen. Followed by Kimberly Martinez goal in the 52nd minute and again assisted by Larsen. Allison Keller got on the scoreboard in the 53rd minute of the match. Monica Brown was credited with the assist on Keller's goal.
Keller, White and Martinez added onto the historic performance from the Thunderbird squad by scoring their first goals of the season. The excitement didn't stop there, as Jaylynn Barton would score in the 61st minute, off of a penalty kick in back-to-back games. The Thunderbirds would lead 6-0 after Barton's goal.
The last two goals of the match were scored by Martinez and Keller in the 68th and 73rd minutes. Giving the Thunderbirds an 8-0 victory.
The last time Southern Utah scored eight times was during the 2010 season, when the Thunderbirds held a record of 8-8-2. Today's home victory moved the T-Birds to 3-3-1 with a great chance to close out the season above .500 for the second time in school history. The first was during the 2007 season when the T-Birds finished 7-6-5.
The Thunderbirds had three players with multiple goals for the first time this season. Schirmer, Keller and Martinez combined for six of the eight total goals for the T-Birds. Keller and Martinez would also combine for 10 shot attempts, helping the Thunderbirds out shoot the Firebirds 21-4.
Isabella Whitmore would play the full 90 minutes of the match as goalkeeper. Whitmore would record a solo save of the contest for the Thunderbirds.
Edwards accomplished his 50th win as a Division 1 coach
Southern Utah will put their win streak on the line as they prepare to host Idaho State in a two-match series Friday April 9 and Sunday April 11 to close out the season.
Match Highlights
https://youtu.be/b1I47VL6Q6c
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