Oh, no, I
thought as Ron and I left Arby’s on
the way to the game. It was
raining. Here I’d taken another night
off for Aggie Sports and I was going to get soaked watching Soccer tonight. I’d only had a week’s worth of warning that
it was going to rain today, but I’d taken it off anyway and hoped for the best.
Thankfully, the rain let up by the time we got to the Soccer Complex. Also, the Spam-induced bellyache I’d had before dinner let up. (The Arby’s was that good, along with a Frosty after.) I crossed my fingers and hoped the rain would stay away for two hours. The radar view was not promising.
Aggie Soccer’s Twitter put out this humorous
post beforehand. (I’m guessing the
person in charge of that is a Bronco’s
fan.) The Band was here (we could hear them immediately), since Aggie Football had the weekend off.
They’d really added to the game experience last time.
While I was waiting for Ron outside the bathroom, I saw a
family come in wearing the Aggie Soccer hooligan scarves. This was, of course, the greatest of all
Aggie Sports giveaways.
I was happy that it was a bit nippy only because it allowed me to wear
mine. A lady came after the family. She smiled and waved her cowbell at me, “I brought mine! You got yours?” Of course, I did. I’m going to get my money’s worth out of
it. I also ran into Softball Coach Rodolph in the walkway. I tipped my Chihuahuas floppy hat (with an Aggie button on
it) to her.
It was Senior Day.
The numbers of the three Seniors having their last home game were on the
field. There was a ceremony before the game. The three Southern Utah Thunderbird seniors were recognized and
they waved to the crowd while they were warming up. Megan
Sheehan (Ron’s favorite), as noted
in the last soccer post, was from Ireland. In a Twitter interview, Coach Baarts said he was
sorry he didn’t use her more. Landy Williams (my favorite player) was noted for her defense. Finally, the announcer listed goalie, Makenna Gottschalk’s, achievements including being the four-time WAC Defensive Player of the Week
(including last week with two shutouts).
Bella Garcia was warming up on field. She was suited up to play and looked
glamorously beautiful, elegant even with her hair up. I’d shown my co-worker, Taylor, my autograph
poster and pointed her out. He
immediately went to Instagram to track her down. (I don’t have an account.) After viewing Bella in a swimsuit, he seemed
forget all about Mia Peterson on the Volleyball team. I also
shared a video interview of Bella with him. His reaction after was, “Dude, she’s perfect
for the both of us! She loves
comics!” Yeah, that was a surprising
revelation. (Taylor’s dad owned a comic
book shop that I used to frequent.)
(Bella, if you’re reading this, respond to Taylor’s
messages. Your teammates would run you
over to get with him, even the ones who say they don’t like guys.)
In spite of the impending rain, what a crowd! 745 officially. I think everyone who got one of those soccer
scarves was here tonight, because they were all over the crowd. The other Aggie Sports teams came out to
support soccer as well. I noted Softball, Men and Women’s Basketball, Men
and Women’s Tennis, Men and Women’s
Golf, Football, and Baseball. (Those last two were unsurprisingly on
opposite ends of the stands from each other.)
Megan Sheehan started the game. That was a nice gesture by the coach. The starting girls all held hands during the
Anthem. I’d seen other teams do that,
but this was the first time I’d seen the Aggies do it. Before the start, the field lights went out
and then began a flashing light show.
Just in case the girls didn't win, they wanted to get in at least one
more light show. The girls all gathered
together for a loud cheer before starting the match.
First
Half
The Band started up at the first kick and provided a
dramatic soundtrack for the game. (By
the way, not the whole Pride of New Mexico
Band, that would have been deafening, there were like 20 members
here.) 41' left in the half, Loma McNeese took the first shot. She had her back to the SUU net, turned
suddenly and fired just wide. 39' the
Aggies were back in the Thunderbird box when the attack was kicked out. Players and the crowd wanted a handball
during the play.
SUU was possessing the ball, but having trouble getting
any shots. 30' Mya Hammack made a good
defensive play here, though she did kick the ball into the stands. 38' Sofia
Beerworth took a hard kick on the
SUU net. Their goalie, Megan Short, made a good catch on it.
Right after, Sofia and a defender got completely tangled with each other
on an attack. 23' Xitlaly Hernandez and a
defender also tangled in the box without a call.
The Baseball team was standing behind the SUU goal. They were alternating between jeering and
cheering depending on the action. The
Thunderbirds had three corners by this point in the half, but no shots on
goal. 27' the ball got loose in the
Aggie box, but was kicked out. Xitlaly
took the kick and charged back downfield.
She broke the ankles of two defenders and the crowd roared, but she was
tripped just past midfield.
25' there was a hard foul called on Sofia by the SUU
box. The Baseball players exploded in
rage. On the pause, Sydnee Johnson came in
for Megan Sheehan. 24' Mya argued with a
line judge about a throw-in. Xitlaly
came over chatted as well. 22' off a great
pass, Xitlaly made a kick in the box that was blocked. The team had overpassed a bit on a previous
attack.
20' there was a foul called on Loma. The crowd disagreed. 17' Brooke
Schultz took a close shot. Megan
Short blocked the shot, but the ball fell right in front of Loma, who had no
trouble kicking it in from point blank range.
1-0 Aggies. The Baseball team immediately ran around like
crazy behind the goal in celebration.
A little stunned, 16' an SUU defender nearly faked out the
goalie on a back pass, forcing a save.
14' Sydnee! She charged in alone,
got past a defender, cut the angle, and put it into the side of the net for a
goal. 2-0 Aggies. The Baseball
team went completely insane and started tearing off their shirts.
The Aggies kept up the pressure. 13' Sofia took a shot that went across the
goal. Brooke followed that with a kick
off a corner that was caught. 11' the
Thunderbirds got a free kick near the top of the Aggie box. The shot went high. 8' off a great pass by Mya, Bella, just in,
took a shot in front of the SUU goal. It
was blocked. That was the last of the
action for the half.
Halftime
The Aggies stayed on field. The Thunderbirds went the locker room. The stats on the board had SUU up with 5
corners to 4, but the Aggies up 7 to 0 in shots on goal. With two goals, the Aggies had already
activated the Raising Canes Challenge,
which I didn't take advantage of regrettably.
The Band played in front of the stands. First, the Outlaws brass section performed.
Then the Drum Line performed. They were great, of course. The Baseball team unfortunately left, maybe
since the Thunderbirds would be changing ends.
Also, they may have been working out before the game started. The lights had been on at the baseball field when
we arrived.
Second
Half
A very blonde little ball girl was working in front of the
stands. She was dribbling the ball
back-and-forth for the whole game. She
was clearly dying to get in and play.
The Band started off the half singing and playing an anime theme. The full Band had performed that at a football
game, but I still can't identify it.
41' Landy argued as she was called for a foul outside the
Aggie box. 37' Sydnee turned around a
defender with an arm-wrap. The ref
lectured her for a moment afterward. 34'
Xitlaly and Sofia performed a little razzle dazzle ball handling in front of
the stands. Earlier, I'd seen an Aggie
make an impressive jumping heel pass.
(I'm kicking myself that I didn't note the player at the time.)
33' Sydnee took a shot at the top of the SUU box. Megan Short made a nice save rushing out to
stop it. Sofia took a shot on the
rebound that was caught. 31' Sydnee made
a solo rush and chipped it just high.
30' SUU took a hard shot from outside the box that just missed
high. Loma may have been hurt on the
play and came out.
Raindrops started lightly falling. A guy in front of us started checking a
lightning app for possible delays. SUU
may have been aware of this and intensified their attack. 28' Makenna caught a shot from the wing. 27' Mackenna fell on one that went across the
net. 26' a Thunderbird long shot went
just high. Loma came back in. 24' Sofia, solo, took a shot on the SUU goal
from the side.
Before we came in, Ron kept thinking he was forgetting
something. When we got to the gate, he
finally remembered and went back.
Thankfully, he came back with his big umbrella. 22' a downpour began. (Yes, my notebook is a bit water-damaged.) The Men's Golf team had just come in. Good for them that they'd brought
umbrellas. Everyone without an umbrella
fled the stands. While Ron was getting
his umbrella open, my floppy hat worked well in the rain, which was why I'd
brought it. I also didn't have to worry
about getting it wet.
The girls on field kept playing like it wasn't even
raining. Landy made a great poke that
broke up an attack. The rain lightened
up a bit after just a couple of minutes.
SUU kept up the attack. 20'
Makenna caught a long, low shot. 18' and
she caught another one. Back the other
way, 12' Gia Valenti kicked a roller
at the SUU goal. Loma followed that with
a shot at the top of the box that was just high.
11' a Thunderbird attacker was wide open in the Aggie box,
but was whistled offside. 8' Makenna
made a dive stop. 5' Sofia took a shot
on the wing across the SUU goal. Bella and
Sydnee just missed connecting for a chip-in goal. 3' Xitlaly found Sydnee on a pass. Syd's shot was just high. 2' the SUU coach was carded. I don't know what that was about. 1' Gia fed Syd for a header that just
missed. With under a minute left, Gia
passed up an open look to give it to Bianca, who shot just wide. Aggies
win 2-0!
I didn't say anything to Ron until after the game
finished, but Southern Utah was 8-1-1, 3-0-1 in conference, coming into this
game. This was a good win. The other final stats were the Aggies with 9
shots on goal and 5 corners. The
Thunderbirds had 9 corners with 3 shots on goal. The Thunderbirds mostly dominated possession
in the second half, but it was all frustration for them. Nice job by Makenna Gottschalk in maintaining the shutout. Good job by the Aggie offense in keeping up
the pressure.
The Aggies gathered on field and came towards the
stands. Instead of just waving to the
crowd, they came over and high-fived the crowd.
Of course, I went to the rail for a touch. I yelled to Makenna that she was the
best. I also thought Bella was fairly
brave. She was holding up her injured
wrist that was taped up. The Football
players and the Band at the far end gave the girls a cheer. (After their win over Hawaii, the Football team had gone around the stadium like
this.)
In spite of the rain, I was very happy about going to the
game tonight. Thankfully, it wasn't that
bad. The team has four more games this
regular season, but no more at home, so this was a nice sendoff. I'll post some updates while reporting on
other Aggie Sports. Overall, I'm really
happy with the team and going out to see them this season.
We started this post with a nice picture of Makenna and
we'll end it with one.
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