Team Banquet Kicks Off Big Weekend

The Utes kicked off a big "family" weekend with the annual team banquet held on Friday night at the Old Mill Golf Club in Salt Lake City. Coaches, team members and families gathered for some good food, team awards and a highlight video. The stars of the evening were the six graduating seniors who were honored for being such great servants to the program. Seen in the photo at left are: Katie Brower, Danielle Sample, Amy Edman, Katy Reineke, Amanda Sanchez and Addie Hair. Each was presented with a photo framed and signed by the team as well as a Utah Soccer scarf. Amanda came all the way from Alabama for the weekend. She graduated in December and has moved to the South with her fiance, Drew, who is stationed in the military there.






Here is Katie Brower being presented with her gifts...













Frehsman Anne Shallenberger enjoyed the dinner of pasta, chicken and veggies...with some great desserts like cheese cake, carrot cake and more!













Team members were honored for their 2nd place finish in the Mountain West Conference as well as being a finalist in the MWC Tournament. Coach Leslie Keener put together a highlight video.








Players voted on team awards as well. The following were the award winners:

Freshman of the Year - Lauren Porter
Most Improved - Mallory Mitamura
Most Inspirational - Danielle Sample
Offensive Player of the Year - Lauren Hair
Defensive Player of the Year - Amanda Sanchez
Most Valuable Player - Kelly Isleib

Kelly and Katy earn West Region honors

We strive for team goals and team excellence on and off the field...however, it's also nice to relay individual accomplishments and honors when they occur...

After an outstanding season, junior midfielder Kelly Isleib, was named to the 3rd Team all-West Region. Comprised of over 45 teams, including some of the best programs in the country...the soccer in the West is incredibly competitive and Kelly's recognition is a testament to her hard work and talent...

Congratulations...to see a list of the all-West team...click here!






Senior midfielder, Katy Reineke, was also honored by being named to the all-West Scholar-Athlete 1st Team. Katy had an excellent season and will graduate in May with a degree in Economics.



Click here for a listing of the all-West Scholar Athlete team









For a mored detailed announcement, click here!

NCAA Bracket

The NCAA tournament field, 64 teams strong, was announced last night. Some interesting match ups all around...BYU, our Mountain West Conference rival, gets to host this week. They will face Virginia Tech on Thursday. The other game in Provo will be defending champion USC against Boston University. Maybe the toughest opening weekend group is happening over at Notre Dame...The Irish play Toledo while Michigan State faces Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Click here for an interactive bracket!

NCAA Selections Revealed Today

The Utes won't be going "dancing" this year. We probably fell about 2 or 3 wins short of an at large bid to the NCAA tournament. Many of the teams we played this year will be in the tournament....Wake Forest, Long Beach State, Washington, BYU are definitely in and UNC Greensboro, Georgia and TCU have a shot to be invited.

The tournament brackets will be revealed this evening on ESPNews between 6:00 and 6:30 PM Mountain Time.

The NCAA women' s soccer tournament is a 64-team bracket. Teams are grouped in "pods" of 4 for the first weekend. So there will be 16 hosts beginning this weekend...

This will be the first year that two teams from the same conference won't be matched up against each other until the 3rd round. Hopefully, that will help mix up the matchups a bit.

Check it out this evening...

Utes Fall in MWC Tournament Final

It all seems to end so fast!...

We lost a tight, 1-0 battle to BYU in the Mountain West Conference tournament final today here in Las Vegas. We competed with great heart and gave it our best shot. We had beaten TCU on Thursday in the semi-final, 2-1 in overtime in another extremely tight game.

We will fall 2 or 3 wins short of an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament. However, we finished our season as a much improved team...going 7-2 in our last 9 games and 10-4-2 after a 1-5 start. More importantly, we grew as a team...playing with confidence and believing in ourselves.

We will head back to Salt Lake tonight and catch up on some school work.
Then we will re-group and talk about our plans here after the season. The players will have classes until about Dec. 10 then have a month-long break before starting up again in January.

Thanks to everyone for your support this year. We'll have more "stuff" from this past week as well as some great material from the players. Stay tuned!

MWC Tournament starts with Banquet

The Utah Soccer Team poses for a team photo after the MWC Awards Banquet in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday evening.













After some travel issues, we arrived in Las Vegas in time to go straight to the hotel and get changed for the MWC Awards Banquet. On the menu was chicken and steak, potatoes, green beans, salad and bread. Strawberry crepes for dessert....good stuff!

When the awards were announced, four Utes were honored....

Sophomore Lauren Hair and freshman Lauren Porter were selected to the 2nd all-MWC team.
And senior Katy Reineke and junior Kelly Isleib were chosen on the 1st team. Congratulations.

Tomorrow will be lunch and then head to the field to watch a bit of the TCU-San Diego State game...then a training session in preparation of Thursday's match...Stay tuned for more...


Sophomore Morgan Skeen and sophomore Alyssa Toomey "lower themselves" to allow freshman Lauren Porter into the picture with them at the Mountain West Conference Awards Banquet.


















Addie Hair, Lauren Hair and Hannah Turpen prepare for dinner at the MWC Banquet.













Sports Information Director Mike DeVine, Head Coach Rich Manning and Assistant Coach Ryan Robinson were disappointed not to have ice cream for dessert but were able to put on happy faces for the camera.

Mountain West Conference Tournament is Here!

The Utes had the final practice at Ute Field today for this week...as we will travel tomorrow to Las Vegas to take part in the MWC tournament....6 teams...1 trophy and the winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament...Exciting!

You may already know about our 2-1 win over the Air Force Academy last Friday. With the victory, we clinched the 2nd seed in the tournament. Check out the story by clicking here!

Tuesday is a busy day. Because we traveled to Colorado last week. The players had to do some catching up on school. We will be missing classes the rest of the week. So some students are busy taking some tests and getting some projects in. We will fly to Las Vegas (about a 1 hour flight) at 1 PM Mountain time. We will go straight to UNLV for a short practice...then get to the hotel to quickly change and get ready for the big banquet with the other teams.

On Wednesday, we will watch the TCU - San Diego State game at 12 Noon...as we play the winner. Then we will train at 3 PM to get ready! Our first game will be on Thursday at 12 Noon. The game will be aired live on TV on the mtn. channel. There will also be live stats and other information available at the Mountain West Conference tournament web site...click here!

Here is the basic schedule (Pacific times):

Wednesday
12 PM TCU vs. SDSU
3:00 PM UNLV vs. New Mexico

Thursday
12 PM Utah vs. TCU/SDSU winner
3:00 PM BYU vs. UNLV/New Mexico winner

Saturday
12 PM Final


We will be updating here as well. Looking forward to a great week! Go Utes!

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!