SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Soccer was smothered by No. 8 UCLA this evening, 5-1. The Utes got an early second-half spark on a goal by
Haylee Cacciacarne but in the end, the Bruins were too much.
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"UCLA is a fantastic team and full credit to them for the win tonight," head coach
Rich Manning said. "I am proud of our players for continuing to battle and pulling one back out of halftime. This has been a tough week both physically and emotionally. We need to recharge our tanks for Sunday."
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The visitors from Westwood, coming off a 6-0 win in their last Pac-12 game, got the first goal in the fourth minute when Karina Rodriguez headed home from Ashley Sanchez's corner inside the left post. The Utes answered with a quick corner but the Bruins added another just before the half hour.
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Carly Nelson was quick to react on a shot from Delanie Sheehan but Chloe Castaneda pounced on the rebound for a 2-0 lead in the 27
th minute.
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After a rousing halftime talk, Utah attacked the Bruins backline and its reward was Cacciacarne's first goal of the season just two minutes in.
Max Flom headed a Ute corner down and
Ireland Dunn diverted the ball to her junior teammate to halve the deficit.
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The celebrations was short lived as Sheehan added a goal to her tally and reestablished a two-goal lead for the visitors. She worked a give-and-go with Julia Hernandez before getting 1v1 with Nelson and putting it home.
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Seven minutes later, a penalty went against the Utes and Jessie Fleming, recently returned from US National team duty, delivered another strike.
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UCLA ended the scoring in the 87
th minute as Dani Satterwhite got on the end of an Olivia Athens corner and bundled the ball across the line.
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NOTES: Utah's goal resulted in a pair of firsts; Cacciacarne's first goal of the season and Flom's first assist … With the assist this evening, Dunn has the most assists for a Ute since the team joined the conference in 2011, matching Avery Jenkins with seven (2014) … Dunn leads the Pac-12 with six assists in conference play … The Utes are 2-11-5 against conference opponents ranked in the Top 10 since joining the Pac-12 … Utah hosts No. 2 USC on Sunday at noon in the final game ever at Ute Field … The team will recognize four student-athletes prior to the match; Flom,
Hailey Skolmoski,
Liberty Taylor and
Paola van der Veen
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