Kick or Treat...more from the Utes' Costume Blast

One of our favorite shooting games is a little thing we like to call "Compo"...Ever get scored on by a headless forward?...ever have Scooby Doo make a "paw" save on you? ...who'd have thought that
Bill and Hillary Clinton would be such skillful players? Check it out!

Halloween Tradition Continues...

Mountain West Conference play is heating up...MWC tournament is close at hand...midterms and projects are piling up...how to release the pressure a bit and have some fun? Well, it has been a tradition here at Utah soccer to use the Halloween holiday to lighten up...dress up and laugh a bit.
Since we are traveling to Colorado tonight, we had our fun a day early this year. Check out the photos...Photographers and reporters were on hand from Channel 2, Channel 4, Channel 5, Channel 13, the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Daily Utah Chronicle....so keep an
eye out! Here is a link to Channel 5, KSL... look for video later today from them. (Find the "icast portion of the page).We'll have video later, but for now...here are some pictures!


Nicole Cardon is our resident pirate! Johnny
Depp has nothing on her!

















Anne Shallenberger is Scooby Doo!










Kellie Woodfield - anyone for dinner? Emalee Rogers has really lost her head!


















Alyssa Toomey and Erin Dalley...do we need to say anything more?
Christine Quinn is interviewed by Tom Kirkland of KSL TV.

















Dressed as our trainers?!!
Hannah Turpen does her best Lauren Lattimer...Lauren Porter is a dead ringer for Morgan Collins...and coach Leslie Keener is...well an (extremely) injured soccer player.

Thursday is a BIG day for Ute soccer

Time for a little mystery...
Tomorrow will be a huge day for the Utes. We will be traveling to Colorado in the afternoon to get ready for our big game with the Air Force Academy. However, before we depart for the airport, we will have a light jog and kick around.

Most importantly, we will celebrate one of the most important days of the year for our program. We have a LONG tradition...dating way back to the beginning of the program. Think about what time of year it is...

We promise pictures and video...but you may want to check the local news stations in the Salt Lake City area tomorrow evening...Stay tuned! Can you stand the suspense?

Mountain West Conference Race Update, Part 2

Coming down to the wire...lots to play for still...with just one game left, here are the MWC standings:

1. BYU 6 0 0 18
   
2. Utah 4 2 0 12
3. TCU 3 2 1 10
4. UNLV 3 2 1 10
5. SDSU 2 3 1 7
6. UNM 2 3 1 7
7. Wyo 2 4 0 6
8. USAFA 0 6 0 0

BYU has clinched 1st place and a bye. The Utes can clinch 2nd and the other bye with a win over Air Force on Friday evening. However, spots 3 through 6 are definitely up for grabs!

Here is the schedule for the weekend:

Friday
Utah at Air Force
TCU at San Diego State
New Mexico at UNLV

Saturday
BYU at Wyoming

Utes take in 'Forever Strong'

Monday practice???? Not today...after a hard-fought weekend and two victories...the Utes went to the movies together this afternoon. The team watch "Forever Strong", a piece about a high school rugby team and its quest for the national championship. The film is based upon the boys' rugby team from Highland High School here in Salt Lake City. Highland's rugby team has won several national championships and is coached by local legend, Larry Gelwix.

Check out this nice piece on Coach Gelwix here.

Highland High School is located just two miles from the U campus. Goalkeeper Amy Edman attended Highland and the show brought back memories for Amy. The movie was inspirational, for sure...don't know if the Utes will be doing the Haka before the next few games...but there are great lessons for any team.

For more information on the movie, click here!

Senior Day Provides Great Moments and Thrills

Well, we were enjoying Senior Day so much that we decided to drag it out as long as possible. After 109 minutes, Lauren Hair got one past the Wyoming goal keeper and we squeaked out a 1-0 win.

The weather was beautiful, the soccer was highly spirited and competitive, the drama was great...it was a fantastic day all around. Wyoming was a very formidable opponent. We hung in there and started playing better as the game progressed. After many chances in the overtime periods, we got one to go in...There was a terrific passing sequence from Danielle Sample to Chelsea Forbes to Kelly Isleib in the attacking part of the field. Isleib hit a one-touch pass in the path of Lauren Hair, who toe-poked it by the charging Cowgirl 'keeper...and we were able to earn the win with the 1:51 left on the clock in the last overtime! Read more about the exciting game here!

Of course it was also our last home game of the season and we honored four fantastic young ladies that have contributed so much over the course of the last few seasons. Here are some photos:


Goal keeper, Amy Edman, with her parents Boyd and Liz.
Amy is from Highland High School, just down the road from the U. She is a nursing major.














Defender Addie Hair with her folks, Scott and Kim. Addie is from Alpine, Utah and Lone Peak High School and is a Mass Communication major.
















Attacker Katy Reineke with Lawrence and Barbara. Katy is from East High School right next to the U's campus. She is an economics major.















Midfielder Amanda Sanchez and her parents, Frank and Debra. Amanda is from St. Francis High School in Sacramento, California. She is an International Studies major.

Senior Day Tomorrow to be on "the Mtn." TV

After a 4-3 win over Seattle University last night (click here for more details), we are preparing for a big Mountain West Conference game with Wyoming. We will celebrate our seniors...Amy Edman, Addie Hair, Katy Reineke, Amanda Sanchez. We also are in a tight race for a good placement in the Mountain West Conference tournament.

Kickoff is at 1:00 P.M. mountain time. The game will be televised on the mtn. network....The mtn. is available nationally on Direct TV channel 616. It is also available on many cable networks throughout the west. Check here for local outlets. If you can't make it out to the game...join us on TV!

Mountain West Conference Race Update

As Seattle University comes to town this evening for a non-conference battle, we have our eyes on the Mountain West Conference standings. With two conference games remaining, there is a lot of positioning going on for the MWC tournament in Las Vegas in two weeks. The top 6 teams in the standings participate in the tournament. The winner gets an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. The 1st and 2nd place teams from the regular season get a bye in the first round and get to go straight to the semi-finals. As of today, the standings look as follows:

BYU 5-0
Utah 3-2
TCU 3-2
UNLV 3-2
New Mexico 2-3
SDSU 2-3
Wyoming 2-3
Air Force 0-5

(3 points for a win, 1 for a tie, 0 for a loss)

So, lots to play for still. The Utes have the tiebreaker over UNLV...but not over TCU...we can still earn a bye with a couple of wins and TCU dropping or tying a game...

Power of Pink Poster

A few weeks back, on September 21, in our game against Cal State Fullerton....we promoted Breast Cancer awareness with a "Pink on the Pitch" day. It was a wonderful day of awareness and support.


We had a poster give away and just got a jpg copy of the poster and thought we'd share it with you.
So, here it is...Complete with "U" soccer players Katy Reineke and Morgan Skeen.

Utah athletics will have more events to promote Breast Cancer Awareness...come and join us at the following:

Volleyball "Pack the House Pink" on November 2nd

Gymnastics "Power of Pink " on January 23rd

Women's Basketball "Pink Zone" February 8th

Softball "Power of Pink" April 18th

You can go to www.utahutes.com for more information.

Seattle U. Comes to Town as a New Division 1 Team

The Utes will take a short break from Mountain West Conference play this Friday when we host the Seattle University at 7:00 P.M. at Ute Field. The Mountain West decided this year to have three single game weekends (where we had just one in the past)...so in order to get a good number of games, we have to play some non-conference games on those weekends.

The Redhawks are in their first year of a transition to Division 1 athletics. They have been Division 2 power house in women's soccer and are beginning the process as a university of moving all of their sports up.

So how has it gone so far? Well, they are 8-3-3 with wins over schools such as Fresno State, Boise State, Idaho, San Francisco and Cal State Bakersfield. So we expect a tough match and one that will help keep us sharp for Conference play and the MWC tournament in two weeks.

For more about this Friday's opponent, click here!

Road Trip Ends in Disappointment in Texas

The Utes fell to the Horned Frogs of TCU tonight, 2-0. The loss ended a 3-match winning streak and brought an end to the road trip. TCU played well and deserves credit....it was not our best performance as we didn't play with enough energy and played too much defense. One of our strengths this year has been an ability to keep the ball. Tonight we could not and would not pass the ball to each other enough. So, we will head back home in the morning. Classes start back up Monday after fall break and we'll hit the training ground again to try to improve for next weekend's home matches with Seattle (Friday night) and Wyoming (Sunday afternoon).

For more on the TCU match....click here!

Big Road Win Boosts Spirits

Big win over New Mexico tonight...not big in the score (just a 1-0 win)...but big as in important for our team. We have had trouble with some of our road games in matching the home team's intensity and drive...and we did a much better job of that tonight.

The Lobos are a terrific defensive team. They commit 8 or 9 players to getting behind the ball. Sometimes all of these players are inside of their own penalty box. And they are very physical. Good in the air and tough tacklers. So matching their toughness is critical to beating them. And we were able to do that tonight.

The game was not pretty. But we were very opportunistic. Lauren Porter headed home her 3rd goal of the season in the 31st minute. The play started with a direct free kick from about 30 yards out. Katy Reineke floated a pinpoint ball to Porter's head and she touched it into the net from about 9 yards out.

We held on for a fantastic win. Now it's on to Dallas-Ft. Worth and another big road test against TCU.

Check out more of the story and quotes by clicking here.

Another Road Test

We are heading out today to test ourselves against two very good opponents, New Mexico and TCU. We have traveled to North Carolina, Oregon, Los Angeles, Washington and San Luis Obispo already this year and challenged ourselves by playing top teams in tough environments. And the reason we did that was to prepare for these Mountain West Conference road trips. In these earlier road games, we have had trouble matching the home teams aggressiveness at times. It will be a measure of our progress to see if we can play a very assertive game and take the initiative this weekend.

Both games will be carried with live video streaming on our hosts web sites. Follow along and see how we do:

Thursday, October 16 - Utah at New Mexico - 7:00 P.M. (Mountain Time) kickoff

Follow the action here!

Saturday, October 18 - Utah at TCU - 6:00 P.M. (Mountain Time) kickoff

Follow the action here!

The Art of the PK

We have drawn 4 penalty kicks this season.  Lauren Hair has drawn all 4 of them and there is definitely a skill involved in that.  Dribbling with confidence and physical courage are important factors.  We have had 3 penalty kicks in the last 3 games...one against BYU and two against San Diego State.  Unfortunately, we missed a couple of them...or, to be accurate, they were saved. 

Penalty kicks are not only great scoring chances, but also create tremendous swings of momentum in the game.  With the sound of the whistle alone, the defending team is charged with emotion...they are angry at the referee and concerned about giving up a goal.  The attacking team is already celebrating the fact that they are probably going to score a goal.  Then comes the drama of the actual kick.  Everyone clears out and much like a free throw in basketball, the kicker is left alone.  The crowd goes silent and then, BAM, something dramatic happens....

There are many "theories" out there about PK's.  And some of them contradict each other.  Some folks think that the person fouled should take the PK because they have "earned" the right.  Others say that the person fouled should never take it as they are still "smarting" from the foul and not able to concentrate on the shot.  Some say shoot high...others low...some go for the corners, while others shoot up the middle (which the goalie has vacated while diving).  Some say approach the ball from straight on...others from the side.  We have inside of the foot passers as well as laces shooters.  They all can work and they all can go terribly wrong!

Probably the most important thing is to be confident in your shot and hit is aggressively....then, be ready for a rebound as you never know.  Last Thursday in the game against San Diego State, Kelly Isleib had her PK saved but was alert enough to pounce on the rebound.

This time of year PK's get even more important as in both the Mountain West Conference and NCAA tournaments, a shootout can decide the outcome of a game if it is tied after regulation.  The Utes were fortunate enough to win the 2004 MWC tournament in a shootout against San Diego State...and unlucky to lose in shootouts in the 2003 NCAA tournament first round (to Idaho State) and the 2006 MWC tournament final (to UNLV).  

We'll see what kind of drama awaits for us this year!  It will be tough to match the 2006 NCAA tournament first round game against Idaho State.  Ute midfielder Katy Reineke stepped up to take a PK with just 37 seconds left and made it to tie the score at 2-2.  We eventually won the game in overtime.  We'll be practicing just in case...

Cold Weather and Offense Both Arrive!

We got a dose of cold weather this week, with some rain on Thursday and Friday....more (with a trace of snow) on Saturday...and even a good snow shower here on Sunday morning. The snow arrived about a month earlier than normal. But it seemed to bring with it our own "ray of sunshine" as our offense broke out for the first time this season. We scored 4 goals against San Diego State on Thursday night, breaking a 1-1 tie with three strikes in the last 13 minutes. And yesterday we scored 3 goals in the second half against UNLV to defeat the Rebels, 3-1.

It is always a grind when you are having trouble putting the ball in the net. The attacking players start putting more pressure on themselves. And the defense feels like any mistake they make might cost us the game as we may not be able to equalize. Scoring seven goals in two games will definitely energize our team and bring more confident play.

On Thursday night against the Aztecs, we got a well-constructed goal from Katy Reineke in just the 3rd minute as Danielle Sample and Kelly Isleib made finely feathered passes to set up Katy's shot. We played a terrific first half and were unlucky not to add to our 1-0 lead...we missed a penalty kick among other chances.

We played a lethargic second half and paid for it with 15 minutes left when the Aztecs tied it up. We rebounded after the wake up call...getting a penalty kick goal from Kelly Isleib just 3 minutes later...and then followed it up with Katy Reineke's 2nd of the night and Mallory Mitamura's first college goal. Kelly had a goal and three assists...and Katy got her first goals from the run of play this year (her first goal was a PK against Oregon). Very good confidence builders!

Read more about the San Diego State victory at www.utahutes.com and in the Deseret News.


Yesterday's game with UNLV was another breakout party for the offense. Three quality goals after the half turned around a disappointing end to the first period. We had started the game very well and seemed to falter right as the half came to an end. We gave up a goal with just 15 seconds left in the half...a definite "body blow". Something that could have really affected us psychologically for the second half.

However, we got a goal from Lauren Porter, who headed in a Katy Reineke corner kick, just 2 minutes after the break. That lifted our spirits and positioned us for a great finish. We had a wind at our backs and seemed to pin the Rebels in at times. In the 60th minute, Lauren Hair smashed home a shot into the lower side netting at the far post after taking a nice slip pass from Kelly Isleib. "La La", as she is known, got her first goal of the season at a big moment. After holding the Rebels off for a period of time, Katy got her third goal of the week when she rifled a shot from about 25 yards out over the 'keeper's head for the 3-1 win. A satisfying pair of results and some new life to the offense as we continue Mountain West Conference play next week with a pair of games at New Mexico and at TCU.

Read more about the Utah win over UNLV here.

UNLV Game Time Changed

It seems to be an October so far with great weather during the week and then a random storm on the weekend. And tomorrow looks to be the same. With possible snow coming on Saturday evening, we are moving our game time to 1:00 PM. Here is the official announcement from the Sports Information Department:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2008

Utah Soccer Home Match Saturday Moved To 1 P.M. Saturday

SALT LAKE CITY – The University of Utah soccer team’s match against UNLV Saturday, Oct. 11, has been moved up to 1 p.m., announced Utah officials Friday. Originally scheduled for 7 p.m., the change was made due to the possibility of inclement weather Saturday evening.

Utah enters the game with a record of 5-7-2, 1-1-0 in the Mountain West Conference, following a 4-1 victory against San Diego State Thursday. UNLV carries a record of 9-4-1, 1-1-0 MWC, and is coming off of a 1-0 loss at BYU.

Hope to see you all there...let's stay dry and warm!

D-News Article about Kelly Isleib

Kelly Isleib is our junior midfielder from Park City, Utah. She runs the show in the midfield. Last season she set a school record with 13 assists...this year she has taken on a more aggressive scoring role and leads the team with 5 goals. You can read more about Kelly and her transition to goal scorer in an article in today's Deseret News (D-News to all of us locals).

Click here to read the article about Kelly Isleib.

Salt Lake City has two major newspapers, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News. Both follow the Utah Utes sports teams closely. You can keep up with Utes' soccer, football, volleyball (and even basketball as it gets started here) with both of these local papers.

Salt Lake Tribune Sports Section

Deseret News Sports Section

NCAA Releases RPI

The RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) has become an important, and controversial, statistic for all college soccer teams to follow. It was designed to try to measure how tough of a schedule a team is playing. A simple explanation is that it measures your record, your opponents' record and your opponents' opponents record...(try digesting that once or twice!).

The RPI is one of several criteria used by the NCAA tournament committee to select and seed teams. Other criteria would include head-to-head results, common opponents and a team's last 8 results.

The NCAA women's soccer tournament is a 64-team deal. There are 30 conferences that get automatic bids to the "show". And then the committee selects the other 34 "at-large" bids by using the RPI and the other criteria.

All but 3 conferences select their automatic qualifier by a conference tournament. (The Pac-10, Ivy League and West Coast Conference each give their automatic bid to the regular season champion). So the Mountain West Conference representative will be determined at the MWC tournament in Las Vegas in November.

The RPI is pretty controversial as it is almost impossible to compare over 330 teams that haven't all played each other. And soccer only plays 20 games...so for you "math geeks"...you'll know that 20 is a very small sample size to try to use to compare all of these teams. A sport like basketball (30-35 games) or baseball (60-75 games) will have a much more accurate RPI...Nevertheless it is used.

The NCAA released the first RPI yesterday. Now with only 11-13 games per team...it is even less accurate...but it might give you an idea about how some teams are doing. The Utes are at 109...low do to our sub-500 record at this point. Updates will be released every two weeks or so...

See the current RPI by clicking here.
You can also check out the Wikipedia explanation for RPI and see if that helps!

Snowballs in October?

Our conference opener on Saturday night against BYU was certainly a disappointment and could not have gone much worse. Thank you to all the fans that came out and supported us. We did not give people much to cheer about and owe an apology for that. A 5-0 loss is a painful lesson and we will have to show some great character to brush it off and get ready for Thursday's home match against San Diego State. It was a cold and rainy night, but felt more like a snowball had hit upon Ute Field...

Giving up an early goal is always dangerous as it can give great confidence to your opponent and put you on the ropes a bit. BYU scored just six minutes into Saturday's match. Unfortunately, just 3 minutes later, they were given a penalty kick just three minutes later after a collision in the box...now it's 2-0...And the snowball had begun to roll down the mountain...

When goals are scored, these are big moments in the game and it's important to manage these well. With two goals in the first ten minutes, it was an important time to settle down the emotions and stop the snowball from gaining further momentum. And we were unable to do that. A third goal just four mintues after that...

The game settled a bit for the next 20 minutes and we created some good chances, including a penalty kick, that could have brought us back into the game.

Later in the half, two more goals just 92 seconds apart....now the snowball is in full force...
Last weekend we gave up 2 goals against Washington just 42 seconds apart. So, we will definitely have to work on this concept of managing moments after a goal is scored on us...Letting a snowflake turn into a snow ball is not a desirable thing!

We've shown good strength of character this year and will do our best to correct these things for Thursday's match against San Diego State...Ute Field at 7:00 PM.

Helping Out the Monticello Walk-a-thon

Earlier in the year, we had a group of students from the Monticello Academy in Salt Lake City come to our game against Long Beach State. And today we got to return the favor and visit the school as they participated in a walk-a-thon to help raise money for the school. Former Ute Erin (Pruitt) Kay is a 2nd grade teacher at the academy and arranged the outing. Here is Erin, joining in with the jumping jacks.




So we had a group of us out leading the students in some warm-up exercises...Lauren Dudley, Lauren Porter, Danielle Sample, Katy Reineke, Anne Shallenberger, Erin Dalley, Katie Martinez, Lauren Hair, Hannah Turpen and Morgan Skeen helped out with some jumping jacks, star jumps, high knees, stretches and other exercises....We led a group of 4-6 graders...then came the K -3 group....very fun and very excited about the day. Grizby, the mascot for the Utah Grizzlies hockey team was there.... After warming up, the students went for their walk and came back to some water, fruit and other treats. Then we set up some informal soccer games. Overall, a fun time and a great way to connect with young people in the community. Check out the little ones getting ready!

Ute Alums to Be Honored at Half-time of BYU Game

Saturday's BYU game will also mark the honoring of our Utah soccer alums. All former players in attendance will be introduced at half-time of the game. We are very proud of our former players who have become professionals, teachers, nurses, doctors, coaches, engineers, role models, moms and more!

Two former players will be honored for being named to the all-Mountain West Conference 10-year anniversary team.


Amy Kofoed Stover was a standout Ute attacking player from 1998 to 2001. She is the all-time leading scorer as well with 46 career goals and 108 career points (46 goals count as 2 points each and 16 assists for 1 point each). Amy had a stint in the WUSA with the San Diego Spirit.








Amanda Feigt roamed the Ute forward line from 2003 to 2006. She has the most assists in the history of the program 22.

Both players will be in attendance with their families for the big game...

Click here to see the complete 10-year anniversary team.