CEDAR CITY, Utah-- The Southern Utah University women's soccer team fell 1-0 to Montana Sunday afternoon.
With the loss, the Thunderbirds dropped to 1-8-0 overall and 0-2-0 in the Big Sky, while Montana improved to 6-4-0 and 2-0-0 in conference play.
"In conference play, it usually comes down to who wins the set-piece battle," said SUU coach Kai Edwards. "They scored on a set-piece and we didn't. Sunday games are always hard and most of our team is new to college soccer at the Division I level, and to see them perform like that was awesome. It's all for nothing, though, if we can't take the lessons we learned from this weekend into next week on the road. We can't lower our standards, we have to learn from this experience and get better."
Both teams came out of the gate with intensity, as each side traded chances inside the other's final third. The Grizzlies began to find space inside the Thunderbirds' box and started peppering shots on goal, but Thunderbird goalkeeper Megan Short thwarted their attempts making seven clutch saves on the day.
After the early push from the visiting side, SUU's offensive attack started to throw jabs back as they began making deep runs inside the Grizzlies' final third, earning six corner kicks in the first half. Their best chance of the half came in the 25th minute when forward Ashley Rivera received the ball just outside the 18-yard box and fired a long strike towards the top left corner of the net that Montana goalkeeper Camilla Xu batted out of bounds, spoiling the Thunderbirds' scoring opportunity.
Rivera fired two more shots on goal in the half, but she could not find the back of the net, giving momentum back to the Grizzlies.
Montana took advantage of the moment and broke through right before the half in the 44th minute. Following a Thunderbird foul, Montana's defender Ava Samuelson fired a set-piece ball to the back post where she found Ally Henrikson, who then headed the ball to the feet of Midfielder Bella O'Brien who fired a right-footed shot to the bottom left corner of the net, sending the Grizzlies into the half with a lead.
The T-Bird's attack stayed on their front foot coming out of the half. Multiple different thunderbirds created chances and fired six shots at the Montana goalkeeper, but in the end, they couldn't find a way to breakthrough.
SUU now embarks on a road trip as they take on Eastern Washington on Friday, October 1st, at Roos Stadium. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.
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