Business trip yields two wins for Cougar soccer in Utah, Colorado

From staff reports

Four different goal scorers provided all that was needed this weekend for No.21 Washington State women’s soccer to defeat Utah and Colorado.

Junior midfielder Kailiana Johnson scored her fifth goal of the season and the Cougars’ (11-2-0, 4-1-0 Pac-12) lone goal Friday afternoon against the Utes (5-6-3, 2-3-0). Senior forward Cara Wegner put a cross inside the box and connected with Johnson, who headed the ball over redshirt senior goalkeeper Lindsey Luke.

WSU held Utah to only one shot attempt in the final 21 minutes and 10 shots overall, with a majority of the Utes chances coming in the second half. The 1-0 win against Utah gave the Cougars back-to-back wins heading into their match against Colorado (7-5-2, 1-3-1), having defeated UCLA last Sunday.

With momentum on their side, the Cougars pressed for goals early and often Sunday against the Buffaloes to come away with a 3-0 victory in Boulder.

Junior forward Kaitlyn Johnson opened the scoring for the Cougars in the 15th minute, chipping the ball over CU freshman goalkeeper Scout Watson, to give WSU a 1-0 lead.

Senior forward Kourtney Guetlein added the Cougars second goal in the 17th minute, beating Watson to the lower left corner for her sixth goal of the season. Trailing by two goals at the half, Colorado began to chase the game and create wave after wave of attacks.

Colorado outshot WSU in the first half, 8-3, and 12-6 in the second. Despite procducing 11 shots on goal, the Buffaloes would never beat redshirt freshman goal keeper Ella Dederick through the 90 minutes.

Freshman forward Tia Gavin added in the game’s third and final goal in the 71st minute, her second score of the season, to complete the shutout. WSU extended its streak of wins when leading at halftime to 32, dating back to Oct. 29, 2010.

“We knew coming in that this was going to be a tough weekend,” WSU Head Coach Todd Shulenberger said in a press release. “I had this on the schedule as a make-or-break weekend as far as what we were capable of this year. Two games, back-to-back on the road, against two quality teams – we did a great job. I thought last weekend against UCLA was good. I think we were even better today.”

The Cougars return home this week and will host Arizona on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Reporting by Lars Hanson