Happy Holidays!

Congratulations to Shantel!!!

Congratulations to Shantel Flanary for being the 2nd Aggie soccer player in the program's history to earn a spot on the NSCAA All-Region 2nd team!

Aggies Celebrate the Holidays!!!

Even though season is over, the Aggies still see each other on a regular basis doing a lot of different activities together as a team to continue to bond as teammates and friends. With the holidays coming up, Ellen and Fish hosted a Thanksgiving party for the team, Danielle Shorts (our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee representative) headed up decorating a Christmas tree to donate to the community, and then we had our annual holiday party! The theme was Holiday movies, so the girls, if they wanted to, were to come dressed as their favorite holiday movie characters! The coaches decided on the Grinch Who Stole Christmas with Josh being the good Grinch who gets to cut the roast beef for the Who's of Whoville, Marla was Cindy Lou Who, and Heather was Max (the Grinch's dog!). Fish and Lo came as snowmen, Kami and Kelsey and Who's from the Grinch, Ellen as a present, and Nano dressed in red and white for the "Candy Cane Effect!" The party ended with a white elephant gift exchange...the coveted prizes....a kiddie bicycle and a kiddie basketball hoop! Happy Holidays from Aggie Soccer! May you be safe, have fun, and enjoy your friends and family!

Looking Back...Reflections of Lindsey Smart

Utah State Hey Aggies all the way, Go Aggies, Go Aggies, Hey Hey Hey! I remember my die-hard Aggie dad chanting this cheer to me in high school when he told me to consider Utah State University for soccer. At first, I wasn’t too interested in cold, little Logan, but looking back on my years as an Aggie I would not trade my experience here for anything.

Of course there were a lot of rough times; like the hard running days……..the practice this past preseason on the HPER field definitely comes to mind (everyone knows which one I am talking about!). Or the practice after Bear Lake when we were doing a lot of 120s and Lo and Syd decided to use one of their free 120s and got yelled at, ha ha I will never forget that. There have also been very frustrating times with injuries, especially when my calves were bad. However, all these hard times made the good times even better and made it all worth it. Having wonderful teammates helped everyone push through the hard times.

I will miss going on road trips with the girls, eating double the amount of calories than we burned, juggling dessert competitions, Goalie wars……sorry coach I mean 2 vs. 2 competitive shooting (Though I will not miss Lo and Mollie kicking the ball as hard as they possible could). I will miss the pillow fightsJ, laughing uncontrollably in the back of the bus with the fantastic five, playing tricks on Lo, and a bunch of other memories that are too numerous to list. The thing I will miss the most is definitely just playing soccer at a high competitive level and fighting for each other on the field while working towards a common goal. Not to mention having fun and kicking butt, while doing it! Two of the best memories that come to mind were winning the WAC conference last year and going undefeated, and beating UTAH at Rio Tinto stadium. Playing on that field in front of so many fans was unreal and one of the funnest games I have ever been apart of!

Looking back at my first collegiate soccer game as a freshman compared to where I am now, I cannot believe how fast it flew by. Though the wins and losses will be forgotten, the friendships I have made, the things I have accomplished, and the countless memories will last forever! Thanks to all my teammates who made it so much fun and worked so hard, the coaches for giving up their personal lives to do so much for us and USU soccer, and trainers (Hillary you are the best). You all made the experience so awesome! I love you!!! GO AGGIES!!

Reflections.....of a Senior: Erin Salmon

Soccer has been my entire life and I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to play at a college level. Not only did I get to play at a college level but I got to play at Utah State University. I don’t even know where to start with the memories and experiences I have had in my last four years, there are so many!

The first memory that comes to mind that I will never be able to forget was freshman year when I made the entire team run. First I got screamed at by coach and then after that I got yelled at by the scariest senior on the team. I have never felt so stupid in my entire life but I am happy to say that after my four years I am not the only freshman that this happened to.

My two favorite memories would have to be obviously winning the WAC Jr. Year and also senior year playing at Rio Tinto and beating Utah!! We seniors have always wanted to beat Utah and it was such a great feeling and opportunity to beat Utah our senior year and playing at Rio Tinto made it that much better!! Winning the WAC was such a great experience the whole entire season was a blast I enjoyed it every step of the way!

The only year I forgot to write about was sophomore year and how could I forget this year because this is the year that brought so much joy and laughter to my life…can anyone guess why? ……. Hello!!!! I got to meet Lo and Shio!! I am sure every girl that plays on this team while these two girls are here will have so many great fun memories to talk about for the rest of their lives. Thanks Lo and Shio I love you guys!!

I could go on forever about memories and experiences but it would be a novel. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had here at Utah State to play soccer. The girls that have come and gone on this team will be my friends for life! I love all of them and will never forget them. I had the amazing opportunity to come into this experience with two of my best friends and it couldn’t have been a better ending then to be able to end it with them. I am grateful for the coaches and all they have done for me. They were very patient with me because I had to come back from so many injuries and I am so grateful that they didn’t give up on me. I am sad to say it is over but I will never forget my experience playing Utah State Aggie Soccer!!!! GO AGGIES!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

P.S. Yes everyone I did love the free food..... J

WAC Tourney

Last week, the Aggies traveled to the WAC tournament in Boise, Idaho. The tournament kicked off Wednesday night by a banquet honoring seniors and award winners throughout the conference. Our girls were a good looking group and represented Utah State well as three Aggies, Lauren Hansen, Summer Tillotson and Chandra Salmon were recognized for earning Athlete of the Week during the season; three more Aggies, Chandra Salmon, Lindsey Smart and Shantel Flanary, earned 1st Team All-WAC honors; and last but not least, Shantel Flanary was honored as the Offensive Player of the Year! Because we finished 2nd in the WAC, we earned a bye for the first round of the tournament. We played Boise State on Friday in wet, cold conditions, and lost in a close 1-0 game. The Aggies were represented well again in post-tournament honors with Sophomores Molli Merrill and Shantel Flanary being named to the WAC All-Tournament team. Congratulations to the coaches and players of the 2009 Utah State Soccer Team for a successful season! Stay tuned for reflections from the season from your Aggies!

ALL-WAC Team!!!!

Congratulations to three Utah State soccer players for earning 1st Team All-WAC, and to Shantel Flanary for being named WAC Offensive Player of the year!
















Shantel Flanary-Forward









Lindsey Smart-Defender









Chandra Salmon-Midfielder

Big Weekend for Aggies!

Here are some pics from this past weekend!




Seniors Sydne Garner, Erin Salmon and Lindsey Smart with their parents




Team before NMSU game!










WAHOO! Aggies place 2nd in the WAC! Now it's off to Boise!!!









Parent/Senior Appreciation Weekend

Halloween--see the girls dressed up for Halloween..eeek!

WE'RE GOING TO BOISE!

Busy and exciting weekend for the Aggies! Detailed posts coming soon! We went 2-0 this weekend beating Louisiana Tech on Friday 2-1, qualifying us for the WAC tournament, and today, we beat New Mexico State 3-0 to secure a 2nd place finish in the WAC and earn the 10th win of the season! Conference tournament will be held in Boise next week. The Aggies earned a first round bye and will be playing on Friday. We also appreciated our parents (formally), celebrated Halloween, and honored our seniors! Again...a more detailed post coming soon!

Bitter-Sweet Weekend in Hawaii

Alohaaaaaaa! by Courtney Cawley

The team began the lovely trip to Hawaii with a 6 hour plane ride. Yes, this does sound terrible, however, on the flight we had a variety of movies to choose from and I had Sammie next to me laughing the whole time during The Hangover, so that kept me entertained as well. Oh and how could I forget Marla's delicious bags of goodies she made for each one of us (which was consumed within 2.5 seconds). So after many movies were watched and tons of food was eaten, we landed in the wonderful state of Hawaii. Yes people were excited, but I think I may have over reacted only because I've never been there before. Besides the smell of fish along the way, my first thought of Hawaii was HALLELUJAH, I love this place since there wasn't any snow, and the weather was above 45 degrees (unlike Logan).
After we finished checking into the rooms, we went on a lovely jog. Two words, HOLY HUMIDITY. After the jog that that made us look like we jumped into a pool, we went and ate at Outback. After consuming 65847 calories (personally) we got to walk around for a little bit and I was able to see the beach, which actually has clear water.
The next morning was quite funny actually. Since the time change was so different and we slept for so long, almost everyone was pretty hungry when they woke up. On the way down to breakfast I said to Sammie, "Oh my gosh I don't even really like breakfast food, but I can't wait to eat. I am so hungry". So as we all gather down in the lobby, Josh tells us that we'll just be eating the continental breakfast over at IHOP, which was a little upsetting since the IHOP menu look so good, but I think we were just excited to eat food. And when you think continental breakfast you usually think cereal, eggs, muffins, fruit, bread, etc. So as we go over to breakfast and enter in the room to our surprise we see our breakfast.... Apples, mangos, and danishes. Our hopes of a BIG breakfast had gone out the window. So after eating 10 apples and 4 danishes (whatever made everyone full) we went to practice.
After practice we went and got smoothies and then went back to the hotel where we were free to do what we wanted. Of course everyone wanted to go shopping and go to the beach. So Jamee, Marissa, Mollie and myself all went to the beach, however, on the way there we had to do some shopping of course. Jamee wanted to go into unrealistic stores such as Chanel and Gucci while the rest of us decided to stay within our price range and go to the International Market. The workers there pounce on you like prey. If you take one look in their direction at what they are selling, they will come up to you and ask you what you'd like to buy. I wasn't use to this and felt bad saying no, so I pretty much ended up buying all of Hawaii ( according to sammie). After spending some money, we finally went to the beach hoping to maybe get rid of our cute soccer tans. It didn't work out so well, but the beach was very very, very nice. After the beach we decided to get henna tattoos on the way back to the hotel. Which everyone's turned out great, except for mine. Mine is translucent pretty much, and Mollie's is struggling a little bit due to Jamee grabbing her wrist (where she got the tattoo) right after she got it. Then when everyone got back to the Hotel we went to a Japanese Steak house where they make the dinner right in front of you. DELICIOUS. So much food was consumed and it was a lot of fun watching them make the dinner in front of you while doing some crazy stuff with the knives and food. Since Shio's birthday was the next week, she got a cake brought out to her at dinner and we all sang her HAPPPYYYY BIIIRTTHHHHDAYYYYY. Once dinner was over we all went back to the hotel and went to sleep. While Shio and others passed out left over cake to homeless people on the street (such a good idea).
The next morning was not only GAMEDAY, but we got to eat at IHOP! Hooorrayyy! Those that were going to church got up a earlier and went and ate then we went to the prettiest church I have ever seen in my entire life. Everyone was very nice there and we even met some people that had gone to Utah State before. When the team gathered back together, we backed up and went to a Swap Meet at the stadium. At the swap meet they had different vendors with a variety of stuff that was sooo cheap. Which is always a plus(: After the swap meet, we went and ate at Chilis for a pregame lunch and then headed to the fields. In the locker room, we were greeted with cockroaches and other bugs. Once everyone flixed there had about twenty times and we listened to the pregame music we were ready to beat the Wahinies. To our disappointment, we lost the game 3-1. Finally, once everyone showered we got in the car and headed to airport to take a red eye back to cold cold cold Logan. Adios Hawaii ( wait that was spanish).

Good to be Home

It felt good to be back home after spending nine of our last ten games on the road! This weekend was an exciting one for the Aggies! The Aggies are now 3-1-1 in conference, 8-7-2 overall, putting them third in conference standings underneath San Jose State and New Mexico State. On Friday, Lauren Hansen scored the winning goal to give the Aggies a win over Fresno State. On Sunday, Shantel Flanary scored within the last four minutes of the game to bring the game to a 1-1 tie with San Jose State! Next weekend, the Aggies travel to Hawaii (such a bummer) to take on University of Hawaii!

On a side note, Aggie Women's Basketball teamed up with Aggie Soccer for a fun tailgate before the football game. There was food from Pounders and Chilis, as well as two pinatas filled with candy! The girls had a good time and the two teams made formal introductions so they could get to know each other. After the tailgate, the girls went to the football game, where Utah State lost to Nevada 35-32. :(

WAC Defensive Player of the Week!

Congratulations to Chandra Salmon, who earned WAC Defensive Player of the Week! Chandra made a strong contribution to the Aggie's win over Fresno State on Friday and tie over San Jose State on Sunday making several huge defensive plays for the team in both games!





**Stay tuned for posts about our two games this past weekend!

Coach Cairns Honored by USU's President's Wife

Congratulations to Coach Heather Cairns who was recognized and honored by Joyce Albrecht, the wife of Utah State's president, at the annual Women's Athletic Luncheon. Coach Cairns was honored for her success with the Women's Soccer team at Utah State and for her dedication and love for Aggie Athletics!