With all the transfer portal news surrounding football, I wanted to see what was up with Women’s Soccer and who is leaving and who is coming.
Here is a link I found that seems to cover all the movement through the closing of the winter window.
Utah loses Londyn Lovell to UVU (not a significant player)
Utah loses Liliah Blum to power program North Carolina. This is a major loss to offense as she was the only one that was a threat to score on the team. She probably got a raise as well.
Utah loses Mia Paugh to West Virginia. This is also major loss as she played center back and started both years at Utah as a Freshman and a Sophomore. She was one reason we stayed close in many games this last year despite not scoring much. Not sure what she sees in that transfer, but probably more money?
According to the link above, the Utes have not signed anybody from the portal in this window. There is another window in May where I would assume Utah will be more of of an active acquirer of talent. That said, two big losses so far.
Tonight at 7PM MDT at Ute Field, Utah Soccer kicks off the home schedule with a game against Weber State. Here is the full list of transfers out and transfers in.
Out
Isabella Woods - M - BYU
Liliah Bloom - M - North Carolina
Alexa Malaspina - G - Sacramento St
Mia Pugh - D - West Virginia
Londyn Lovell - M - Utah State
In
Brooke Gardner - D - UNLV
Kennedy Fletcher - D - Arizona
Madeline Stoddard - F - Auburn
Neveah Perrigrina - F - Portland
Anna Solomon - G - Oregon
Kaella Chin - D - UCLA
I have no idea of the skill of the incoming class, but three of them are from P4 schools. I know for sure that the outgoing class was pretty much the best players from last year.
The team did play an exhibition against Colorado last week and lost 1-0 (on an own goal by Utah). The two GKs both played half the game and the following played more than 60 minutes:
Callie Blaylock - D - 59 (starter last year and close enough)
Tatym Dever - D - 68
Abigail Affleck - F - 72
Neveah Peregrina - M - 74
Reese Kennel - D - 84
Julia Oka - M - 85 (a key sub last year)
Rylan Park - M - 85
Brooke Gardner - D - 90
The team last year played pretty good defense in front of a senior GK. I was hoping for some more scoring to be brought in. That seems to be a wait and see based on Colorado usage.
Watched match - Utes lack
speed up top and dribble way to much. I was surprised Callie Blaylock did not play - maybe injured? Up next is UVU. They have a 3 game win streak against the Utes. I doubt the coach survives this year. The UVU coach would be a decent candidate.
Yep to all of that. I was really hoping that a freshman or an incoming player could provide some offense.
The best players for Utah were Bellini, David, and Davidson. While Affleck reminds me of a basketball guard who can only go right. She seemed to have opportunities to go left and create a much better scoring chance, but maybe she isn’t comfortable on left foot.
The team certainly had their chances in the second half but most of them from outside the box that weren’t very dangerous. The header on the corner kick that hit the crossbar was the only really dangerous shot in the whole game.
The team continues pre-conference games with matches against the other remaining state schools in August before they head to Oregon and Oregon State before Labor day.
EDITED to add that I was surprised about Blaylock as well. I didn’t hear Riley say anything as to her status.
They might have an internal candidate with that new coach that is on staff this year coming over from a very succesful Cal-Poly Pomona team, and is a Brit to boot. Reading her resume she has connections all throughout SoCal related to her work there. She could be a candidate.
Domestic Authority: U.S. Soccer manages and issues the mandatory licenses required to coach in top-tier domestic professional leagues like Major League Soccer (MLS) and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). [1]
The CONCACAF Role: While CONCACAF administers a regional Coaching Convention and elite frameworks like the CONCACAF Pro License, these regional certifications serve to align member associations under a unified international standard rather than replace U.S. Soccer’s domestic licensing mandates. [1, 2, 3]
High-Level Requirements: To coach at the highest professional levels in the United States, leagues mandate specific USSF credentials (such as the U.S. Soccer Pro License or A License), not a direct CONCACAF-issued equivalent.
The Utes won their game last night at UVU by a 2-0 score. Still lots of problems that need work. Giving up two goals to UVU and getting lucky there were both offsides would have ended the match in the first half.
I thought Oka was really good along with Kennel. Finally we saw some nice forward through balls that broke players in on goal.
That injury to Reese Clem looked really bad. I wouldn’t be suprised if it is a long term injury. This may give more playing time to Bullock, who did play some.
Once again, Solomon was great in goal, and got the saves when needed.
It was interesting to hear the UVU announcer say that Rylan Park (who came very close to scoring) is the only player on the team now from her freshman class and that overall the Utes have 18 new players. We will see if they can become a unified team and do better in conference than last year.
Another quick Ute soccer note… Former Ute Katie O’Kane had a great game for Racing Louisville in the NWSL this last weekend, scoring and assisting in a 4-1 win in Boston.
With 18 new players I can understand why the play in the final 3rd is disorganized. UVU was much more organized up top and IMO was the better team even when they lost a player on a red card. The Utes will hopefully find their way
I finally got around to watching the match against SUU from the other day. A team we should beat and did and played their best game while doing so. I was flabbergasted because they looked dangerous most of the game (haven’t seen that in a while).
Maybe SUU isn’t good, but was great to see the win and seeing the team come together a bit.
I noticed that Affleck didn’t play a lot in the game and when she was in, oof. I don’t mean to pile on a Ute who is playing her heart out, but maybe a position switch for her would help. You can’t have a striker who doesn’t strike.
I did watch the Utah State and Utah Tech games this morning and have the following to day.
Utah St. - The offense was non-existent, the set plays are a waste of time and simply serve as turnovers to the opposition, and the play from back to forward is disconnected lacking any creativity or even a simple plan. After seeing some sparks in the SUU game, we play a good team and it all goes away. One positive Solomon continues to be very strong.
Utah Tech - Played on the UT football field so difficult to watch the flow of the game. I only watched portions of the game, so I may have missed more to comment on. They Utes controlled the ball a lot of the game, and had a ton more opportunity, but, as always, have difficulty finishing, going high or wide so many times and lose 2-1.
Davidson (who is a brighter spot on the team so far) scored quickly after half, but then Tech turned around and got the goal right back and then giving up a goal late on a semi break, all on bad defense.
Two game losing streak, and once we lose to BYU (assuming), the we will finish with a losing in-state record.
Something needs to happen to shock this team into figuring out to get the copious shots on the net so that they can actually score.
Last night, while the Football team was racking up dazzling offensive numbers the Ute soccer team was losing in Eugene, OR 1-0. Because it was a BIG10 home game, I was not able to watch it, and I can’t find any highlight package online.
This quote is from Nakada on the Utes website.
“Tonight was another game that came down to one play,” said coach Hideki Nakada, “and unfortunately for us, it didn’t go our way. It’s painful having to learn these lessons this way, but we have to take the lesson, own it, and get better from it so we can start getting the results I know this group is capable of. Sunday gives us another opportunity. We’ll regroup, get back to work, and be ready to compete.”
If the only way this team is going to not lose is to play perfect defense, then there is probably a lot more wrong with this team than just one error on a corner kick. The article mentions specifically that several Utes had shots at the net but all were saved. After watching this team for a while, I know exactly what that non-finishing looks like, and it is not good.
The Utes played two games recently. Earlier last week they played the second game of their Oregon swing by playing to a tie with Oregon State 1-1. No Fox payment so didn’t see the game.
I did see the game they played on Saturday down at Long Beach State. I don’t know how good LBSU is, but Utah put it all together with a blowout 5-1 win. The only negative thing was the dumb foul in the box by a Ute when the ball carrier was dribbling away from the goal late in the game for a PK. Five different goals scorers.
Team looked a whole lot better and maybe the gelling is happening.