It is official, yesterday I was able to watch the first game of the Utes as members of the Big12. A Women’s Soccer game on ESPN+ against Gonzaga which was played last Thursday and which Utah won 2-1. The play by play was done by Brian Priest and color was done by Brooke Hale, a player on last year’s team.
This was Brooke’s first game ever doing TV and, as you would expect, she was raw. Priest was a mixed bag, I didn’t like his goal call as it was to much like the spanish guy (GOOOOOOOAL). He needs to find his own call.
The quality of the broadcast was pretty good in that camera work and direction followed the play, and we got good close-ups, replays, and a graphics package so that worked. Comparing this university produced game compared to other university produced games that I have seen on ESPN+, it was very good. Certainly not to the level the PACTV gave us with professional announcers and production, but it was fun watching the game and overall I was satisfied with how it turned out.
As for the game Tali Kaufusi got the first goal and Bella Woods got a free kick and curved the ball with about 30 seconds left for the win. A fun game overall.
I was able to watch the game from last Thursday against Grand Canyon on repeat on ESPN+ (hallelujah for national access to games and replays). The team started off well with Talia Kaufusi again scoring off a header early in the game, but despite having the ball most of the rest of the game and outshooting GCU by a 14-3 margin, (including hitting the post), they gave up a very late goal and tied 1-1.
Some good news, Bella Woods won BIGXII freshman of the week last week for her late goal against Gonzaga. So, that’s nice.
I did some digging on the team and found out they got some help from the portal, bringing in six new players including Grace Watkins from Duke (who Nakada had recruited when he was at Stanford) and Rachel Bastone from Santa Clara who has played in the national title game.
As far as the schedule goes, the team plays two different teams that are currently in the top 25 (BYU ranked #4 and TCU ranked #13) and their next game is against Utah State who is undefeated and listed among the “others receiving votes” category.
I really want Coach Nakada to succeed on the hill. He was a standout recruiter for Stanford and has now been the coach at the U for a few years. Maybe it will be like Coach Roberts and just take a couple of more recruiting cycles. It is a bummer to see BYU ranked so high and USU and even Utah Valley be teams that received votes in the top 25. Sheesh, if Utah Valley can do it, why can’t the Utes.
I was finally able to watch the Soccer game against Weber St. The gap in talent was very clear as the Utes won big. Both Kaufusi and O’Kane getting hat tricks.
It was nice to see them bounce back after losing to USU. USU is ranked and has a good team. They just beat BYU who was also ranked and been the best team in the State for years.
First at LSU which ended in an 1-1 draw. The game was miserably soggy, raining the whole time. But the Utes scored first, again within the first 10 minutes by Taliana Kaufusi. LSU scored in the 2nd half, but Utah controlled a lot of the play and I think probably deserved to win.
Back home for a game last night against UVU. UVU had beaten Michigan on the road earlier this year but had a three game losing streak going and a seven game losing streak to Utah. Well, not anymore. Two incredible errors gifted UVU goals and the Utes lost 2-0. First was a pass from the Ute GK directly a UVU player, and the second was an attempt to head the ball away from the goal that instead looped over the head of the Ute GK for an own goal. Just a brutal game.
Now the Utes start their BigXII season with a game against Arizona at Ute Field on Thursday. They stand 2-2-2, but could be 4-1-1 with just a bit better play. The team is right there but needs to avoid the errors where the ball ends up in the back of their own net.