University of Utah
South Dakota State
Utah Soccer Starts on Sunday
8/15/2017 12:34 PM | Soccer
Utes open at home vs. South Dakota State
| Game 1 | No. 20 Utah vs. South Dakota State | |
| DATE | Sunday, Aug. 20 | 12 p.m. MST |
| LOCATION | Ute Field | Salt Lake City |
| TELEVISION | Pac-12 Mountain |
| LIVE STREAM | https://pac-12.com/live |
| LIVE STATS | Live Stats |
| PROMOTION | Home Opener |
| TICKETS | https://utahtickets.com/soccer/ |
SALT LAKE CITY - No. 20 Utah Soccer starts the 2017 regular season on Sunday when it hosts South Dakota State at noon MT. The game will be televised live on the Pac-12 Mountain Network.
Utah brings back NSCAA All-Region and US Youth Team members Hailey Skolmoski and Tavia Leachman from last season's squad that made history by reaching the Third Round of the NCAA Tournament.
Eight of the starting 11 players from 2016 return along with almost 80 percent of the team's scoring. The Utes also retain their entire starting back line as well as both goalkeepers.
SKOLMOSKI SELECTED TO HERMANN WATCH LIST
Utah junior forward Hailey Skolmoski has been named to the 2017 MAC Hermann Watch List.
Last season, she was named to the NSCAA All-Pacific Region First Team and also became the first Ute to ever earn First Team All Pac-12 honors. Her 13 goals were the most for any Ute since 2007 and she also netted seven game-winners.
An excellent student that earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors, Skolmoski was also invited to play for the U-23 Women's National Team this summer.
The Riverton native started all 14 games during her freshman year as a defender until suffering a season-ending injury.
The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States' top male and female college soccer players.
The Utes will play six other nationally-ranked programs this season, splitting them equally home and away. Utah welcomes defending national champion No. 3 USC for the Pac-12 opener (9/23, 2 p.m.), two-time reigning Pac-12 champion No. 2 Stanford (10/5, 5 p.m.) and No. 25 Colorado for Senior Day (11/3, 1 p.m.). The team travels to No. 8 BYU for the Desert Duel (9/8, 7 p.m.), No. 12 Duke (9/11, 5 p.m.) and No. 9 UCLA (10/12, 9 p.m.).
PRESEASON PAC-12 POLL
Utah Soccer was picked to finish fifth by the Pac-12 Conference this season, according to a preseason poll of the league's coaches
Pac-12 Women's Soccer Coaches Poll
| 1. | Stanford (10) | 119 |
| 2. | UCLA (1) | 110 |
| 3. | USC (1) | 101 |
| 4. | California | 86 |
| 5. | Utah | 81 |
| 6. | Colorado | 74 |
| 7. | Washington | 48 |
| Washington State | 48 | |
| 9. | Arizona | 43 |
| 10. | Oregon | 40 |
| 11. | Arizona State | 22 |
| 12. | Oregon State | 20 |
UTES WHIP WEBER STATE IN PRESEASON MATCH
Utah Soccer put forth a positive preseason display during a 3-0 win at Weber State on Saturday. Three players, returning from injuries, all netted for the Utes.
"We have been focusing a lot on our defense during this preseason and I think we saw it working well tonight in keeping the shutout," head coach Rich Manning said. "I think we were not as fluid as we would like to be offensively and I'd like to push the pace a little more but I can't complain about the three goals we got. They were all well struck and it was nice to get those players on the scoresheet."
It was a great evening for the Utes, not just because of the final outcome, but because of the players who found the back of the net. Madi Clarkson, who missed all of 2015 and fought through injuries last season, started the scoring. Paola van der Veen sparkled with a goal and assist after suffering a setback that ended her last year prematurely and Natalie Kump closed the game with a fine strike after medically redshirting as a freshman in 2016.
