Blum's brace keeps Utah United women unbeaten with shutout of CISA
Lilliah Blum and Seven Castain each scored a first-half brace, and Haven Empey collected the shutout in her first start in goal as Utah United rolled to an 8-0 road win over CISA.
By: Utah United media services
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (May 29, 2025) — Utah United continued to roll through the start of its inaugural USL W League campaign.
Lilliah Blum and Seven Castain each scored a first-half brace, and Haven Empey collected the shutout in her first start in goal as Utah United rolled to an 8-0 win over Colorado International Soccer Academy (CISA) at Halftime Stadium in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
Ellie Walbruch, Erin Bailey and Lucy Kesler each scored for Utah United (3-0) before Bella Devey put the finishing touches on the win with an assist from Ruby Hladek in the second half.
Through the first three matches of Utah United’s inaugural campaign, Castain leads all scorers with six goals and Walbruch has four as United has outscored its first three opponents 21-0.
“As we continue to rotate the squad, look at different combinations of players playing together the level doesn’t drop,” Utah United head coach Scott Halasz said. “It is down to a great group of women who are committed to bettering themselves and each other during this small window we have together.”
Blum, who plays collegiately at Utah, scored both of her goals early, and TCU’s Castain gave United a 3-0 advantage by the half-hour mark as the visitors started fast and never looked back.
Walbruch, who plays collegiately at BYU, stretched the lead to 4-0 before Castain finished off her own brace in the 35th minute for Utah.
Bailey, a recent transfer to Arkansas from Layton, Utah, opened the second half with her second goal of the season, and Kesler, the American Fork product coming off her freshman season at BYU, added another in the first 15 minutes of the second half.
Devey, a U.S. youth national team player and North Carolina signee who prepped at Lone Peak High in Highland, finished off the scoring for the final margin.
Quotable: Utah United head coach Scott Halasz
“Traveling and playing on the road always brings different challenges and today was no different. Add to that this was our second of three games in six days. We feel the team once again performed very well in front of goal and limited the opportunities for the opposition.
“We now look forward to Saturday’s game against last year’s division champions. We knew coming in they would be the standard that we strive for and we are excited to see where we are at in this early point of the season.”
Player of the Match
Lilliah Blum: The 5-foot-3 winger from Verona, Wisconsin coming off her junior season at the University of Utah had her first multi-goal game of the season, scoring a brace in the first 20 minutes and assisting on another to Seven Castain to put United up 3-0 before the half-hour mark.
Next match
Utah United (3-0) vs. Colorado Storm (1-0)
When: Saturday, May 31
Location: Regis University, Denver
Kickoff: 4 p.m. MT
Highlight: Seven Castain’s first goal from Lilliah Blum