Utah Soccer Drops Tight Contest To No. 19 Georgia, 2-1

Utes fall on late second-half goal.

Chelsea Forbes scored her first career goal in the loss to Georgia.
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Aug. 31, 2008

SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah soccer team (1-3-0) lost a tightly-contested match at home Sunday, falling to No. 19-ranked Georgia (2-1-0), 2-1. Freshman midfielder Chelsea Forbes scored the lone Ute goal.

"I think Georgia did a good job crowding up the midfield and taking our passing lanes away," said Utah head coach Rich Manning. "We started to fatigue a little bit toward the end and they scored a fantastic goal, so all the credit to UGA there."

With the contest tied at 1-1, midfielder Marah Falle netted her second goal of the game, for the eventual game-winner, in the 86th minute. Midfielder Traci Dreesen played the ball out wide to junior Carrie Patterson, who crossed it into the box where Falle got a head on it. Utah's junior goalkeeper Emalee Rogers (Centerville, Utah) made her best effort to get a hand on it, but it was not enough to keep Georgia out of the back of the net.

After heading into halftime tied 0-0, the Utes surrendered the game's first goal to Georgia's sophomore midfielder Marah Falle less than five minutes into the second half. A set-piece clearance by the Utes fell to Falle, who blasted a one-timer from outside the box that found the back of the net.

Less than three minutes later the Utes pulled one back as freshman midfielder Chelsea Forbes (Bountiful, Utah) finished off a pass from fellow freshman midfielder Kellie Wooddfield (Provo, Utah) from about 15 yards out, evening the game at 1-1.

"When the ball came to me I was just thinking I had to get a goal, I had to hit the back of the net," said Forbes. "Lauren (Hair) did a great job to dribble through their defense and get it across to Kellie, who played it back to me. I think overall we played a lot better today. We passed it around well and we were much improved from Friday night. We have been practicing on everything and working on our weaknesses, trying to carry that over to the next game."

The Utes are back in action Sept. 5 as they travel to Eugene, Ore. for a Friday matchup with the Oregon Ducks. They will then head to Corvallis, Ore., for a Sunday contest against Oregon State.

Utah's next home game will be Friday, Sept. 12, as the Utes host Utah State at Ute Field. The team will celebrate U.S. Youth Soccer Night as the Utes team up with the United States Youth Soccer Assocation (USYSA).