SALT LAKE CITY – Ireland Dunn's third goal in as many games capped an amazing Senior Night at Ute Field and
Carly Nelson set the single-season mark with her 10
th of the season as Utah defeated Colorado, 1-0.
"It was a fantastic night for our team," head coach
Rich Manning said. "The team played with such great energy and we created several good chances. We also played fantastic defense against a good Colorado attack."
Utah weathered a storm for the first 10 minutes before turning it on and Dunn scored her fifth of the season in the 16
th minute off a pass from
Kristin Fairbairn to get their side ahead 1-0.
"It just means so much to win on this field with my friends for the last four years," Dunn said. "I knew I had to leave everything out there tonight because we needed the win. I am just so happy we were able to do that together tonight."
The Utes did not let up with Dunn,
Holly Daugirda,
Kylee Geis and
Hailey Stodden forcing saves from CU goalkeeper Jalen Thompkins.
Dunn, Daugirda and
Courtney Talbot caused trouble for the CU defenders all night and created a handful of chances in the second half. Unfortunately, the Utes could not get the goal to kill the game at the one end of the pitch.
At the defensive end though,
Aleea Gwerder,
Haylee Cacciacarne and
Tavia Leachman kept Colorado from creating any great chances and limited the Buffaloes to just one shot on goal that Nelson collected to set her record.
The Utes honored eight senior student-athletes prior to the contest as Dunn, Nelson, Cacciacarne, Daugirda, Gwerder,
Jamie Goodwin and
Natalie Kump.
"Our eight seniors have given so much to the program over these last four season," Manning added. "It was so great to see them enjoying Utah Soccer on our field one last time with family and their teammates."
The NCAA Selection Show is on Monday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. MT. It will be streamed live via NCAA.com.