ST. GEORGE, Utah. - With snow blanketing the Thunderbird Soccer Field in Cedar City, today's contest between the Southern Utah and Grand Canyon women's soccer teams moved south to Dixie High School in St. George Utah.  SUU wound up taking a 4-0 loss to the Antelopes as the T-Birds moved to 9-4-2 and 4-3-2 in the Western Athletic Conference on Sunday, Oct. 23. 

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Megan Short did her part in the first half to keep the Thunderbirds in the competition. Facing a 16-2 shot deficit, Short rejected seven of the eight total shots on goal in the first 45 minutes.  Freshman midfielder Addison Larsen tallied SUU's initial shot of the match at 19:32, missing high and right on the GCU goal.  Later in the first stanza, sophomore defender Natalia Sepulveda missed left at 36:44.  Meanwhile, GCU's Gianna Gourley collected the lone goal of the first half at 23:29 to pick up her conference-leading 12th tally of the season. 

The second half proved to be much more even in terms of offensive activity, but less so in terms of success.  SUU outshot GCU, 13-9, in the second stanza. The Antelopes, however, picked up three more goals led by Gourley's 13th score of the campaign.  For SUU, sophomore midfielder Hailey Hamataka laced four shots, while freshman forward Sammie Sofonia and redshirt freshman Whitney Wansgard each tallied two shots of their own.

Notable Stats

• Before the match, SUU honored three Thunderbirds who are playing their final seasons with the squad.  Senior twins Rachael and Julia Hunt as well as redshirt junior Kate Schirmer had planned on playing their final contest at Thunderbird Soccer Field today, but inclement weather had other ideas.
• With eight saves on the day, Megan Short moved her 2022 season total to 81.  That's ranked ninth in SUU history in terms of a single-season mark.  Short already stands tied for fifth with 94 saves in 2021. 
• Megan Short also improved her fourth-ranked standing in career saves at Southern Utah with 175 to her credit.  Only Megan Flowers (306), Holly Davis (252) and Charly Booth (240) stand ahead of her.  

Next Up

The Thunderbirds close out the 2022 campaign with a pair of road matches next weekend.  First, the 'Birds head to Orem, Utah to take on Utah Valley on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. MT.  Then, SUU completes the regular season with a 2 p.m. MT matchup against Seattle in Washington on Saturday, Oct. 29. 

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