Utah Valley rallies by Weber State in craziest Utah college soccer match of year
The Wolverines overturned a 3-1 second-half deficit to beat the Wildcats on Nixan Jackson's second goal of the year.
OGDEN, Utah — Say what you will about the Utah Valley women’s soccer team, but these Wolverines don’t quit.
Nixan Jackson scored the match-winning goal in the 81st minute, and Utah Valley rallied from a 3-1 second-half deficit for a road win over in-state rival Weber State on Monday night.
Down 3-1 after Grace Kirby set up Sammie Sofonia with her second assist of the night in the 59th minute, Utah Valley clawed back three goals in 20 minutes before holding off the Wildcats to improve to 4-3-1 with their third win in four matches.
It’s the third-straight win over Weber State for Utah Valley, whose former associate head coach and top recruiter Kyle Christensen took the head coach job at Weber State in the spring.
"They're a much better team than they've been in the past, and it's all because of him,” UVU coach Chris Lemay said of Christensen. “We miss him and wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”
Weber State (4-4) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 21st minute when Kirby followed up her goal with an assist to Tenzi Knowles, the Utah State transfer who finished on a rope for the early advantage.
Sadie Beardall pulled one back for the Wolverines off Jacey Wood’s corner kick 40 seconds later. But the Wildcats stretched the 2-1 halftime advantage to 3-1 on Sofonia’s goal in the 59th minute that looked to put the hosts comfortably in front.
Not comfortable enough, perhaps.
Ruby Hladek found Marie Quentel to pull one back in the 64th minute, and Quentel returned the favor with an assist to Kate Shirts on the equalizer just four minutes later.
That set up the heroics for Jackson, who took a pass from Faith Webber near the right side of the box and scored her first goal since the season opener Aug. 18 against Utah to win it.
“Faith’s ball was a perfect ball. I owe it all to her,” the former Maple Mountain High star said.
“I think our whole team believes that we can always come back and play together,” added Jackson, whose team bounced back from a 2-0 road loss to No. 12 BYU on Friday. “We all wanted really badly, and I think that showed the last 35 minutes when we scored those three goals.”
Utah Valley will travel a bit farther north Thursday to face Utah State (3 p.m. MT, Mountain West Network) before returning home to open Western Athletic Conference play Thursday, Sept. 25 against Tarleton State.
The 16th-ranked Utah Valley men’s soccer team will return home Saturday from a trip to San Diego with their perfect record intact, after Jose Luis Martin Montealgre and Dan McKay helped the Wolverines score three second-half goals in a 3-0 win over UC San Diego.
Kolby Sessions tied a season high with five saves to collect his sixth shutout, securing the best start in UVU program history that surpasses the previous best start of 5-0 in 2015.
It’s the Wolverines’ longest shutout streak in program history, eclipsing the previous stretch of five consecutive matches in 2016.
Utah Valley (6-0) returns home Saturday to host Santa Clara at UCCU Stadium in Orem (7 p.m. MT, ESPN+). The Wolverines open WAC play Saturday, Oct. 4 at Grand Canyon.