Kaufusi Scores Again, Utes Draw GCU

Thursday, August 22

Salt Lake City, UT

7 p.m.

University of Utah

1-0-1, 0-0-0

Grand Canyon University

1-1-1, 0-0-0

Grand Canyon

Utah

Soccer

8/22/2024 11:48 PM | Soccer

Box Score

Kaufusi nets another early goal, Utes and Lopes finish tied at 1

SALT LAKE CITY – In its first meeting against Grand Canyon University, the University of Utah women's soccer program earned a 1-1 draw on Thursday evening at Ute Field.

This tie puts the Utes at 1-0-1, while the Lopes are now at 1-1-1.

"It was a disappointing result to say the least," said head coach Hideki Nakada. "But, overall I thought we controlled the game throughout the match."

In the ninth minute, graduate forward Taliana Kaufusi netted her second goal in as many games. This is the second time this season the Salt Lake City native has scored under the ten-minute mark.

Tali tallies another! Utes lead.

?? ESPN+#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/y4uEtW0BUg
— Utah Women's Soccer (@UtahWSoccer) August 23, 2024

Kaufusi is the first Ute to start the season with goals in each of the squad's first two contests since Chelsea Forbes in 2009.

The Utes out shot the Lopes 14-3 with graduate forward Grace Watkins recorded four of those shots.

The Utes had a chance to score with Big 12 Freshman of the Week, Bella Woods, in the 53 minute. Capitalizing a free kick, Woods shot to the top left of the goal, but GCU's goalie was able to bump it out of bounds.

"We had numerous opportunities to put the game away, but we just weren't clinical enough in the final third of the game," said Nakada.

The Lopes were able to gain control of the ball in the 85 minute and carried it downfield to level the match, 1-1.

The Utes fought hard to create a deficit, shooting three shots in the last ten minutes of the match, but fell short.

"We have to win games when we dominate the game as much as we did tonight," said Nakada. "But we'll use this tough result to learn and improve moving forward."

Next Up
Utah will host the Utah State Aggies to continue their home-game stretch at Ute Field on Aug. 28 at 7 p.m.

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