Utah Soccer's Home Stretch Continues with Grand Canyon University

Soccer

Utah Soccer's Home Stretch Continues with Grand Canyon University

8/20/2024 12:47 PM | Soccer

Utes to host the Antelopes at Ute Field for first time on Thursday

Salt Lake City - Coming off an exciting season opener, the University of Utah women's soccer team will match up with the Grand Canyon Antelopes for the first time in program history on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Ute Field.

THURSDAY'S MATCHUP
Date | Time: Thursday, August 22 |7 p.m. (MT)
Utah (1-0) vs. GCU (1-1)
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah | Ute Field
Live Stats: Click Here
Live Broadcast: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @UtahWSoccer

Game Day Promotions
Utah's Unmuted and Katie's Save Mental Health Night. Unmuted is Utah's student-lead mental health association and Katie's Save is a movement to support college students, in memory of a Stanford goalkeeper Katie Meyer. Any donation will receive a pink Katie's Save wristband in support of their mission. If you would like to learn more, please visit https://www.katiessave.org/ .

About GCU
Thursday's game will be the first time Utah and GCU will meet on the pitch. Chris Cissell is leading the Antelopes for his fifth season. He started with GCU in 2020 and has guided the team to record two WAC championships and two NCAA appearances.

Before GCU, Cissell worked at his alma mater William Jewell for 12 seasons before moving to Kansas City for nine seasons. This season, the Lopes brought on 30 players, ten of which are underclassmen.

Scouting GCU
GCU was defeated in their season opener by the University of Arizona Wildcats, 0-1. In the first half, the Lopes had a shot hit the cross bar and lost control of the ball. In the first 28 minutes, GCU recorded one shot to Arizona's seven. This ultimately led the Lopes to be outshot 15-9. The seniors stood out as senior midfielder Brenna Alderson had a waved off-goal in the 85^th minute for a back-side shove in the box. Then, senior goalkeeper DeAira Jackson recorded seven saves, already matching her second-highest save total of last season.

Following their loss, GCU dominated Charleston Southern in a 3-0 match on Sunday. Their lack of offense with Arizona was not repeated as they outshot Charleston 20-6. In both matches, the Lopes are debuting a new formation of 3-5-2, which is proving to be beneficial as the Antelopes scored their first goal in the first five minutes. Freshmen forward Reese Clem stood out with the game-high of three shots, one of which hit the net.

If She Could, She Wood
In the ninetieth minute of Utah's season opener, freshman midfielder Bella Woods earned a free kick off a handball from Gonzaga. With pressure to take the lead of the tied game, Woods's shot curled around the Bulldogs' defenders and into the back of the net, earning the win for the Utes.

Gibbs Got Game
Junior goalkeeper Erin Gibbs tallied five saves against Gonzaga. Though it was her first start with the Utes, this will mark her 15^th game with five or more saves, ranking her third in the Big 12 for savers per game. Before Utah, Gibbs played 31 of 31 games in her two seasons with Morehead State.

2024 Utah Women's Soccer Roster
Coach Hideki Nakada has assembled a squad that consists of 13 returners and 12 newcomers. The list of players back in Utah Red include 2023 leading scorer Katie O'Kane and Taliana Kaufusi, who topped the team in goals in 2022. Brooklyn Blaylock and 2023 assists leader Kelly Bullock have also returned after starting all 20 matches a season ago, as has Kasey Wardle, who finished as one of the conference leaders in saves as a sophomore.

Among the many new Utes on Nakada's roster are true freshmen Callie Blaylock, Londyn Lovell, Mia Paugh, Siena Zunino, Katie Callaway and Bella Ganiere. The Utah staff also added six transfers, including sophomore Landen Matthews, junior Erin Gibbs, senior Devi Dudley and graduate students Grace Watkins, Rachel Bastone and Ava Hetzel.

NCAA Appearances
The Utes are heading into 2024 aiming for their ninth NCAA Tournament berth and their first since 2019. Utah's best showing the national postseason occurred in 2016, when victories over Texas Tech and Florida State propelled them to the Sweet 16.

2024 Schedule
After Thursday's match, Utah will host two more games at Ute Field before traveling to LSU on Sept. 5. This four- match home stretch will kick off a schedule where the Utes play at home a total of 11 times. This season, Utah will face off against two ranked teams, BYU and Texas Tech, and a match against TCU who is receiving votes nationally. The Ute's first Big 12 match will take place at Ute Field on Sept. 12, where they'll square off with the Arizona Wildcats.

New Conference, Same Utes
The 2024 campaign will be Utah's first as members of the Big 12, the fourth different conference the Utes have competed in since the program's inception as members of the WAC in 1995. Utah posted a 7-8-2 mark during that initial season, then went 13-7 in 1999 when they played in the Mountain West Conference for the first time. Their first foray into Pac-12 play was in 2011, when they finished 10-9-1.

The list of new league foes the Utes will have to contend with include a Texas Tech team that won the conference's regular season title, then reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament, as well as a BYU squad that reached the College Cup for the second time in three seasons. Utah will also be taking the field against Iowa State and Kansas State for the first time in program history.

New Year, New Staff
In addition to the new faces on the field for the Utes, coach Hideki Nakada also added two new coaches to his staff.

Assistant coach Travis Smith officially came on board in January after three seasons at Kansas, where he helped the Jayhawks rack up 20 victories, including wins over squads ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation. Smith also spent time at Brandeis High School, where his pupils included three all-state and seven all-region selections. He helped the squad to a district title in 2018 and, two years later, the Broncos finished the season ranked at No. 9 in the state.

Fellow assistant Jackie Poortinga was hired in May after a busy last several years that included functioning as Phoenix Rising's Director of Goalkeeping, a position she's held since 2021. Her responsibilities there included overseeing the development of the organization's goalkeepers, developing and implementing the team's goalkeeper training curriculum and identifying talent for the purposes of improving the roster. She also functioned as an Assistant Goalkeeper Coach for the Phoenix Rising FC Men's USL Championship team.

Tickets
Season tickets for 2024 are currently on sale, with single-match tickets going on sale on Aug. 12. Tickets can be purchased by visiting utahtickets.com/soccer/. All ticket sales are cashless and all tickets are digital, including MUSS Tickets. Pre-purchasing tickets will allow fans to obtain the best price. Those on the Utah player pass list will have their tickets added to their account associated with the email provided by the student-athletes.

To ensure a successful experience with digital ticketing, fans are encouraged to download their tickets to the wallet on their smartphone for presentation upon arrival at the stadium gates to expedite the entry process. Ticket sales and customer service will be available at the ticket office near the main entrance.

Next Up
After taking on the Lopes, the Utes match up with the Utah State Aggies at Ute Field on Aug. 28 at 7 p.m.

FOLLOW THE UTES!
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @UtahWSoccer | Instagram: @UtahWSoccer | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utahwsoccer), and the official mobile app of Utah Athletics, Utah360 -- download here.