Soccer Kicks Off 2024-25 Season With Offensive Explosion

Note: This is a guest-written article from Zach Boyd, who covers Utah State Olympic sports for The Aggship.

Picking up where they left off after last year’s conference tournament, Utah State women’s soccer team began their 2024 campaign by adding more hardware to their collection. Manny Martins and the Aggies showcased the same defensive tenacity and aggression that crowned them conference champions last year, putting forth dominant back-to-back victories at the OUTRIGGER Kickoff Tournament in Hawai’i, while also showing off some major improvements to the offensive side of the pitch – highlighted by veteran stars like Kylie Olsen and fan favorite Summer Diamond.

Women’s collegiate soccer is an immensely compelling product. By and large, the game is faster, more aggressive, and often higher-scoring than its professional counterparts. Last year, the Aggies embraced being the quicker and more aggressive team, but the higher-scoring aspect of their game was inconsistent.

Whenever they won big, it was thanks to their suffocating defense. Last year, the Aggies only outscored their opponents by two or more goals five times, and of those matches, four were shutouts. Another testament to the exceptional play of the defense was the fact that the Aggies refused to get blown out of their matches. There were only three times the Aggies lost by two or more goals, all of which came at the hands of nationally ranked teams. Odds were, if you tuned into a USU soccer match last year, it was a tightly contested defensive battle that left your heart rate higher than your doctor would be comfortable with. Offensive consistency was difficult to come by, even with plenty of shots on goal. However, if these first two matches are any indication, Martins and company may have found exactly what they need to push this team to new heights.

The Aggies opened the tournament in the Rainbow State with a resounding 4-0 win against a very solid Pepperdine squad, followed by a 3-0 shutout over their hosts, Hawai'i. The two shutout wins were more than enough to earn the team the tournament trophy, with Georgia Southern losing in each of their two matches by a single score. The Eagles were the lone team the Aggies did not face during their time in Hawai’i.

Coming into the tournament, it was apparent that Utah State and Pepperdine were the two most decorated teams, with Pepperdine posting an impressive 9-5-5 record in 2023 as part of a three-bid West Coast Conference, earning wins over the likes of Fresno State and Arizona (the same Arizona team the Aggies lost 0-1 to last season) and drawing with eventual NCAA tournament teams like LSU, Harvard, and Michigan. Pepperdine would lose in the first round to the eventual national runners-up, No. 2 Stanford.

For the Aggies, the crowning achievement of the 2023 season was winning their first-ever Mountain West championship, giving them the conference’s only bid to the NCAA Tournament – the third in school history. After falling to No. 1 BYU in the tournament, the Aggies finished the year at 14-8-1 and completed one of the greatest seasons in Utah State soccer history.

Replacing production from key contributors was expected to be a major test for Martins and his coaching staff coming into the 2024 season. Martins lost over 5,000 minutes of veteran production to graduation from three of his top players: Diera Walton, Kelsey Kaufusi and London Miller-Smith. Walton, coming off a record-breaking season in the Mountain West, and Kaufusi, becoming the first Utah State women’s soccer player ever drafted in the NWSL (25th overall to Portland Thorns FC), would both be especially difficult to replace considering Martins' aggressive defensive scheme.

Somehow, Martins replaced one record-setting keeper with another by landing the most accomplished goalkeeper in USC Upstate (South Carolina) history, graduate student Cora Brendle, in the transfer portal. You name it, Brendle holds the record for it. Per Utah State, she holds program career records for goals against average (1.21), save percentage (.811), wins (24), winning percentage (.570), and matches started for a goalkeeper (51), while ranking No. 2 in career saves (258). She led her team to a combined 20-9-8 record over the last two seasons.

Offensively, five of the top seven goal scorers on the team would be returning, with only four goals and just over 1,000 minutes of production lost from forwards Tensi Knowles and Nicole Hadlock-Hardy. Hitting the transfer portal, Martins found a perfect final piece to add to the offense and defense by landing junior defender/midfielder Isabella Velazco, a United Soccer Coaches All-American from Santa Monica College.

In the opening match against Pepperdine, the Aggies wasted no time testing out their offense. Olsen scored the first goal of the season in the 22nd minute, followed by a second goal from Diamond just two minutes later. The Aggies continued their onslaught in the second half with Tess Werts and Kaylie Chambers adding goals in the 56th and 68th minutes, respectively, closing out an imposing season-opening win.

To wrap up tournament play, USU faced off against the hometown team, the Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine. They were no match for the Aggies as they once again put on a dominant performance. Now, the Rainbow Wahine are by no means world-beaters, finishing last season at 5-8-3 in a one-bid Big West league, but they had plenty of flashes last year to spark some curiosity about how the match would unfold, especially in the first career start for Shay Kercher-Pratt in net.

Kercher-Pratt did exceptionally well in her first showing, demonstrating just how deep and versatile this roster is with a year of championship-level development from the underclassmen. Bizzy Arevalo opened the scoring in the 21st minute, and the floodgates opened once again as the Aggies scored two more goals in the next three minutes. After the goals by Werts and Diamond, the Aggies never let go of their 3-0 lead, clinching the tournament title. USU maintained its pressure throughout the match, outshooting Hawai'i 21-6 and replicating its usual defensive dominance by limiting Hawai'i to just one shot on goal.

Olsen’s contributions were instrumental throughout the tournament, earning her both the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week and OUTRIGGER Kickoff Tournament MVP honors. Olsen, alongside Alex Day, Kaitlyn Richins, Arevalo, and Kercher-Pratt, secured spots on the All-Tournament Team.

One of the biggest takeaways from Utah State's performance in the tournament was the ability to utilize depth to create areas of explosive offense. A total of 23 players saw action, with six freshmen making their debuts.

For newer fans who might be less familiar with USU soccer, Hawai’i is not a member of the Mountain West for women’s soccer, their spot instead being filled by Colorado College (which we’ll dive more into during our conference preview), meaning the Aggies have begun their non-conference schedule 2-0 to start the season for the first time since 2017. And, for context, USU scored just eight goals in nine non-conference matches last year, while the Aggies have now scored seven goals in their first two matches this time around.

Last year’s non-conference schedule tested the Aggies against some incredible opponents, which proved vital for the team’s success later in the year during conference play. This year looks to be the same. Of 10 non-conference matches, only three will be played at home (Texas Tech, Pacific and Washington State). The road schedule is long and unforgiving, with rivalry matches against Utah, BYU, UVU and Weber State all being played in enemy territory. Four bouts come against teams that went to the NCAA tournament last year (Pepperdine, Texas Tech, BYU and Grand Canyon).

This time last year, the Aggies were fighting to get in the win column but showed tremendous promise. Now, going into their first home match of the season, the team has shown they belong. Receiving national attention, the Aggies will enter their match against Texas Tech on Sunday ranked No. 1 in the Pacific region, and receiving votes in the Top 25 for the first time ever, effectively tied for 29th in the country. After losing to No. 4 Penn State less than a week ago, the Red Raiders were knocked out of the top 25 and would love nothing more than to kick USU out of the top 30 and jump back into the polls themselves with a win.

Looking back on the rough 0-3 loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock last year, and seeing how far the team has come is all the more reason to rally together at the Bell on Sunday afternoon and see just how far this team can go.