Utah Soccer Takes Down No. 19 Santa Clara, 1-0

Friday, August 28

Salt Lake City

7:30 PM

University of Utah

Santa Clara

8/28/2009 12:00 AM | Soccer

Aug. 28, 2009

Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY - - The University of Utah soccer team (3-0) handed No. 19-ranked Santa Clara (2-1) their first loss of the season Friday night at Ute Field, taking down the Broncos by a 1-0 score. The game-winning goal came from senior Kelly Isleib as she netted her team-leading third of the year.

"This was a great game and Santa Clara is a great team," said Utah head coach Rich Manning. "I guess we found out tonight that we can defend and compete with some of the top teams in the country. We have to work on our offense a little bit but we showed a lot of confidence out there. This was the most physical game of the three we have played, and for the first time I felt like we did not lose the physicality battle."

Isleib scored on a direct free kick, bending it around the wall and into the bottom right corner of the goal from approximately 20 yards out. She becomes the third different Ute to notch the game-winning goal this season. Isleib brings her career totals to 11 goals and a school-record 25 assists for 47 points. She also has six game-winning goals in her career.

"Lauren (Hair) did most of the work by drawing the foul," said Isleib. "She put me in a nice position for the free kick and I just curved it in. It feels pretty good, SCU is an awesome team and this is a huge win for us. Especially because we got the early goal and then had to hold on to it defensively."

Utah's sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Turpen made four saves to hold the shutout and improve to 3-0 on the year. Utah has yet to allow a goal in the run of play, surrendering only one strike on the year by way of a penalty kick. Utah has outscored its opponents 10-1 on this season.

"Our defense was really strong tonight," said Turpen. "They won us the game. They were strong in the air and know the game well. Morgan Skeen played out of her mind and Lauren Porter, Lauren Dudley and Nicole Cardon were incredible too. The defenses made me look good, I didn't have as much to do back there tonight. The whole team played well, we defended all over the field, not just in the back."

The Utes improve to 3-0 on the year as they capture their first win over a ranked opponent since beating No. 16 BYU in Provo, Oct. 16, 2007. The win marks Utah's first victory against a ranked opponent at home since a 1-0 defeat of No. 15 BYU in 2006.

Utah pulls the all-time series with Santa Clara even at 1-1. Their only other match also finished 1-0 but went in the Broncos' favor on their home field. Manning relished the win but expressed mixed feelings about beating his former team. He was an assistant coach and associate head coach for SCU for four years before becoming the head coach at Utah.

"It's a little bittersweet," said Manning. "I wore that shirt for a long time."

Utah is back in action Sunday, Aug. 30, as the Utes host Cal Poly at Ute Field. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. MT.

UTAH SOCCER FANS - Have you checked out the new Utah Soccer fan club, the Crimson Kicks? For more information on the Crimson Kicks or to purchase your Utah Soccer season tickets, visit www.utahtickets.com or ask about it at the Ute Field box office on game day.

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