Isleib Lifts Utah Soccer To 2-1 Double Overtime Victory

Utes come out on winning end of second straight overtime contest.

Kelly Isleib produced the game-winner for the Utes as they topped UNCG in double overtime.
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Aug. 24, 2008

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The University of Utah soccer team (1-1) earned a split of its season-opening road trip Sunday as the Utes claimed a 2-1 double-overtime victory over UNC Greensboro (1-1). Junior midfielder Kelly Isleib (Park City, Utah) scored the game-winner in the second minute of double-overtime, notching her second goal of the weekend.

"The game didn't really go our way in that second half but we hung in there and Kelly made a big play to win the game," said Utah head coach Rich Manning. "That's what winning teams do. I thought UNCG played a terrific second half, they put us under lot of pressure like Wake did, but in a different way. They had a lot of good second efforts and they played some good soccer. It was definitely a positive for us that we could withstand that. That is a great quality to have in your team and after two games we can tell that we have it within our group this year.

On the game-winning strike, Isleib received a pass from sophomore midfielder Morgan Skeen near the top of the UNCG penalty box, took a touch past a defender and lined up the strike. Isleib let it fly, finding the bottom left corner of the goal, propelling the Utes to their first victory of the 2008 season. The goal was the second of the season for Isleib, who also tallied Utah's only goal in Friday's 2-1 overtime loss to No. 21 Wake Forest.

"Morgan got the ball from Lauren Hair and I thought she was going to shoot it," said Isleib. "But then she pulled it back and played it to me, so I touched it around the defender and pulled the trigger. I saw their goalkeeper was shading to the right because it was on my right foot, so I just aimed for the left and found the side netting."

"Kelly is an upperclassman now and she has started to feel comfortable taking responsibility and helping the team win games," said Manning. "I thought Friday night against Wake Forest she did a fantastic job of managing the game in the second half and being our leader. Today she played about four different positions and was able to move around comfortably in them all. At the end of the day, good players make good plays when it counts."

For the second consecutive game, Utah was first to light up the scoreboard. In the 17th minute of play, freshman midfielder Katie Martinez (Littleton, Colo.) cleaned up a loose ball in the UNCG penalty box, tallying her first collegiate goal. After earning a free kick on the left side, Utah played a short ball to senior midfielder Katy Reineke (Salt Lake City, Utah). Reineke worked it down the left flank, then played a cross into the penalty box. After ricocheting off a couple of defenders, the ball found senior midfielder Amanda Sanchez (Sacramento, Calif.) who's shot hit a defender and rebounded back into play. Martinez was able to battle through the crowd and finally got a toe on it, finishing off the scoring chance to put the Utes up 1-0.

"It felt really good to help the team and give us something to build off of," said Martinez. "After Katy played it in, Amanda had a shot deflect off of a defender and rebound straight to me, and I got really excited. I saw that no one was at the far post so I just tried to hit it as hard as I could, so that if it didn't go in we might still have another chance at it."

Just minutes before haltime, UNC Greensboro drew even at 1-1 off the foot of Kristin Player at 41:23 mark. Jen Bronson played the ball into Utah's penalty box, finding Player, who beat a defender and slotted it just past Utah goalkeeper Emalee Rogers (Centerville, Utah).

That was the only damage the Spartans would inflict however, as Rogers kept them off the board for the remainder of the game, making two saves. Utah also tallied two team saves, as defenders cleared the ball from potentially hitting the back of the net.

Despite being outshot 15-13 overall, shots on goal only went 5-4 against the Utes. Utah was more efficient in its goal-scoring though, hitting the mark in two of those attempts on frame. The Utes earned four corner kicks to the Spartans' six, while committing 11 fouls to UNCG's 14.

With the win, Utah pulled its record to 1-1 on the year after opening the season with a 2-1 overtime loss at No. 21 Wake Forest Friday.

Utah returns to Salt Lake City for its home-opener Friday, Aug. 29, as the Utes host Arizona at 7 p.m. MT at Ute Field. They will then face No. 18-ranked Georgia at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Additional quotes from Coach Manning and players

Head Coach Rich Manning
On the way the team defended in the second half:
"We made some really nice plays around the box. I'm not sure we necessarily solved what they presented to us, but to be able to hang in there under those circumstances was definitely a positive. Individually, Morgan Skeen was very good in the second half, and Lauren Porter did a nice job as well. We just kept hanging in there."

On capturing a road victory:
"We are always happy to win one on the road. I don't think we won more than one game outside the state of Utah last year."

On getting more players quality minutes:
"It was nice to once again find out more about ourselves. I think we are still just trying to find the positions, formation and strategy to help us use all of the qualities we have. We took some steps this weekend and found out what some of these players can do, and now we can go back and train on that. Lauren Dudley got her first action in the second half and was solid, along with Mallory Mitamura, Danielle Sample, and Addie Hair. Getting our players in and seeing what they can do is big deal."

Junior midfielder Kelly Isleib
Overall feelings on the game:
"It was a hard, back and forth game. I think we had the majority of the first half possession. But in the second half they did a lot of moving and running, winning 50/50 balls and it was hard for us to transition when playing so much defense. But we stuck in there and gave it everything we had. We played awesome defense, we were strong in our tackles, and some players stepped up. We had some players get hurt, and a few others stepped in and played really well. Sometimes a game like this rolls your way like today, and other times it doesn't, like Friday night."

On scoring twice in as many games:
"It feels nice. Last year I didn't have the greatest scoring season but I had a lot of assists, and I will never take those for granted. Goals and assists go hand-in-hand. But I appreciate Morgan playing the ball to me instead of hitting it, that's probably what I would have done last year. To have two goals in two games kind of takes the pressure off a little bit."

Freshman midfielder Katie Martinez
Her overall thoughts on the game and her performance:
"I thought I played well today and the team played well. It was the second game of the weekend which is always tough. I thought the first half was good, we worked it around and were able to get a rhythm going."