Ugly Sweater Holiday Party!

The team and staff got together before everyone left for winter break for our annual holiday party....this year's theme was UGLY SWEATER! The girls ate dinner and holiday goodies, then ended the night with a white elephant gift exchange! We wish everyone happy holidays! Be safe and enjoy your time with family and friends!

Aggie Alum Serves Our Country AGAIN!

Kathy Konops, a USU Soccer Alumni, is finishing up her second deployment for the United States Air Force. She has been in communication with Coach Heather Cairns and recently sent pictures from Afghanistan, her most current location.

To Kathy, we appreciate your service to our country. We wish you a safe return home, and know that your USU Soccer family is thinking and praying for you and your crew!

Tree Decorating-Community Service

On Monday night, some of our girls participated in a tree decorating activity on campus. The tree will be donated to a family in the Cache Valley so they can enjoy Christmas!!!

Awards....Awards....Awards!!!!

Congratulations to Natalie Norris who was named to the NSCAA Western Region 3rd Team!

Other exciting news...USU Women's Soccer earns NSCAA Academic Team award for the 8th straight year!!!! Lots of good things happening both on and off the field! Have a safe holiday!

WAC Tourney--The Players' Perspective!

Senior Heather Pond: They tourney was different this year. Its pretty hard to explain. Because it was my last year I didn't exactly know how to feel. The flight was awesome, a great way to go out. Soccer has been way fun the last couple years!!!

Junior Chandra Salmon: The flight was awesome! It took my parents an entire day to get home (to SLC) and we left after dinner and made it home (Logan) in time for 4th meal. The tournament game was a bust. I hate losing... but the trip was still fun. :)

Freshman Mari Miyashiro: My first trip to the WAC tournament wasn't as successful as I hoped it would be. But on the plus side, we didn't have to take 3 different planes just to get to Louisiana. Our own personal plane that flew directly out of Logan was definitely the highlight of the trip. The game didn't end up in our favor, but I think we played a heck of a game. If only we came out hard and strong like we did in the second half, it could have been a whole different game. In the end, it was a great experience and I can't wait to do it all over again next year!

Junior Marissa Sanchez: Being chartered to Louisiana was obviously a big highlight of the tournament, I felt like an extra special person, especially after hearing that David Beckham, Katie Perry, and Rhianna had all been on that plane previously! The flight attendant was such a sweetheart and on the way back she got us all chocolate. We even got to take pictures up in the pilot seats, felt a little closterphobic though, much smaller up there than I imagined it. The awesome part about the banquet was having so many of our teammates get awards.

Freshman Chelsie Sperry: The weekend in Louisiana was a blast! It was fun to experience the WAC tournament for the first time and travel with the team. The banquet was also fun to go to and the highlight of the weekend was probably taking a team picture with the trophy we brought home! It was way nice traveling on a charter flight as well and spending time with the best girls ever! I love our team :)

Junior Molli Merrill: All i have to say is the charter plane was amazing... now i know what it's like to be a football player

Freshman Hailey Anderson: The charter flight was amazing! Just the fact that David Beckham was in the plane made it that much better. The banquet was interesting, our team was was cheering during the slideshow of all the teams. We just have such great spirit (: and the gave us the dessert at the beginning of the meal which is genius. Plus they were brownies, so that was a bonus. We played so good the second half. We really gave it our all and played to the very end. It's sad we couldn't pull it off :(

Senior Weekend

It has been a busy two weeks for the Aggies! We honored our seniors last weekend with a luncheon and before our game on Sunday, played our game against Hawaii, then left Wednesday morning for the WAC Tournament in Ruston, Louisiana (flew a chartered flight right out of Logan....post coming in a couple days!).

Each year, the team holds a special luncheon just for the seniors where Coach Cairns gives a little background on their history at USU as well as some fun stories about each senior. The girls love dressing up and taking pictures with the seniors, and the luncheon ended with a highlight video, highlighting each senior's career at USU, and last words from each class to the seniors, and this year the seniors started a new tradition of last words from the seniors to each class!

On Sunday, the team played Hawaii...going into this game in 4th place in the standings. Anything could happen, and 2nd place was where we knew we could end up if we won, however, if other pieces fell into place, we also knew there was a possibility of finishing in 1st. ALL those other pieces fell into place combined with our win, we now share the WAC title with San Jose State! Another exciting piece of news was Lauren Hansen breaking two school records on Sunday (career points and career goals) with her hat trick in the first half, and assisting junior Shantel Flanary's goal in the second half!

The Aggies fell to Fresno State 1-0 in the semi-finals of the WAC tournament, finishing their season with a record of 9-7-5. It is also noteworthy to point out that in Utah State's last six years in the WAC, they have finished 2nd three times, and first twice...not a bad legacy being built by Coach Cairns, her staff, and the players! Pictures and players' reflections of the few days in Ruston at the WAC tourney to come soon!

Senior Weekend Pictures!

2010 WAC CO-CHAMPS!

Congratulations to USU soccer....2010 WAC CO-CHAMPS! Great way to send off our three seniors in their last home game! Senior Lauren Hansen broke both the all-time career point record and the all-time career goals record when she scored a hat trick in the first half to help the Aggies in a 4-0 win over Hawaii Post coming soon....

Despite Losses....and a great fan!

It's been a busy week for the Aggies! Despite dropping two WAC games to Fresno State (score 1-0) and San Jose State (score 4-1), the Aggies secured a spot into the WAC tournament in Ruston, Louisiana next week! This week, the Aggies had a bye today, which meant one extra day to prepare for the last home game on Sunday vs Hawaii at 1pm, when we will honor our three seniors, Lauren Hansen, Heather Pond and Stefani Shiozaki.

On another note, this season the Aggies had a new fan come cheer us on! Skylor Pond (pictured below) came to our games and cheered us on and the girls started telling him that he is our good luck charm! We honored Skylor after our game vs. Boise State by presenting him with a signed ball from the team and a t-shirt! We enjoyed Skylor's company and support, and look forward to seeing him at our games next year!

Aggies Undefeated in WAC Play!

With three games left in WAC play, the Aggies stand undefeated at 4-0-1 after beating Idaho on Sunday 2-0 and tying Boise State on Friday 0-0. Shantel Flanary put in two unassisted goals against Idaho on Sunday to help the Aggies rise to the first place spot in WAC standings. There are three games left in WAC play. This weekend the Aggies travel to northern California to take on Fresno State on Friday at 7pm, and San Jose State on Sunday at 1pm. With the help of the Aggie back line, Marissa Sanchez, Katie Crosland, Natalie Norris and Summer Tillotson, Junior goalkeeper, Molli Merrill, earned WAC Defensive Player of the Week as well as America First Credit Union Utah State Student-Athlete of the Week, earning two shutouts this weekend against Boise State and Idaho.

USU in SL Trib!

USU Soccer was recogznized in the Salt Lake Tribune for their success so far this season! Check out the article by clicking the link below!

USU Soccer in SL Trib

Aggies Continue Strong in Four Game Winning Streak!

Aggies took on Nevada and Houston Baptist this weekend beating both teams 3-0. Lauren Hansen racked up four goals this weekend with Shantel Flanary scoring two of the six. Lauren is now tied for second for careers goals in the USU record books! Congrats to Lo!

This weekend the Aggies will take on Boise State on Friday at 3pm and Idaho on Sunday at NOON at home.

Craziest Traveling Weekend Ever

Natalie Norris gives a little blurb on the first weekend in WAC play
6 flights in 4 days. Talk about airplane sickness. We played in Ruston, Louisiana and Las Cruces, New Mexico this past weekend, but had quite an experience getting there. First we left Logan to drive down to the airport at 5:45 AM on Thursday morning which started the whole adventure off. We ended up having three layovers in Dallas, Texas, and a couple of drives to get to our actual location. We played La Tech Friday afternoon and started off conference with a 1-0 win. Saturday we flew out to El Paso, Texas and drove to Las Cruces where we spent the night. We played the next day against the 'Crimson Aggies' and beat them 3-0. It was a great start to conference with two wins and two shutouts and I think we all hope it will continue! Go Aggies!

With goals by Lauren Hansen, Katie Crosland, Kendra Pemberton, and Heather Pond, the Aggies had a strong weekend against La. Tech and New Mexico State. Molli Merrill and her defense earned two shutouts helping Molli be names WAC Defensive Player of the Week! The Aggies are at home the next two weekends against Nevada on Friday, Oct. 8 at 3pm, Houston Baptist on Sunday at 1pm, Boise State on Friday, Oct. 15 at 3pm and Idaho on Sunday at 1pm. Come on out and cheer on the Aggies in WAC play!

What Our Rookies Think of USU So Far!!

Moving to a new place....always exciting, scary, new experiences, etc...here's what some of our rookies have to say.



Jennifer Flynn: The biggest adjustment so far from high school to college is finding my own food to eat. I can never remember what I used to eat when I lived at home.









Mari Miyashiro: My biggest challenge so far has been adjusting to everything in Utah (people, food, language, etc). Coming from another state is hard especially when it comes to making friends. If it wasn't for soccer, I wouldn't have any friends. I also have to get use to the type of food that is here. A lot of the fast food restaurants (McDonalds, Taco Bell, Wendys, etc.) are the same but Utah definitely has more mexican food then Hawaii does. My parents still send up food from home :)








Chelsie Sperry: One of the best parts of being up here in Logan and going to college is just living on your own with a bunch of your friends and socializing. It's been way fun to meet so many new people and be able to have the chance to get to know a lot of the other student athletes during connections. My favorite thing my friends and I have done so far is swing dancing on Wed. nights. It's so much fun to go meet new people and just be in a great environment and dance to sweet country music!








Libby Lundquist: I have met so many new people and there is always something fun going on. Moving out and experiencing college life has been awesome and I love it. It is so fun to just be with everyone on the team. We have been through everything together so we have gotten to know each other so well and we can just joke and laugh about everything. Traveling has been really fun with everyone.









Kendra Pemberton: biggest challenge so far has been having any energy to do anything besides soccer and school; Biggest Adjustment so far from high school to college with School: Actually having to read the textbook and study. with Soccer: The time it takes up during the day and how tired it makes you. The best part of USU: The people. Everyone is really friendly and easy going.









Taryn Rose: The best part about USU and the soccer team is the girls. I instently fell in love with them they have made the transition so easy and i feel like i can go up to anyone . Especially with me being hurt its easy to feel left out but not with this team. We all come from being the best and the competition is hard but you have to love it. You cant go a day with out laughing.









Alison Williams: I expected it to be much colder when i got here. I arrived July 24th and was waring a sweater and jeans, and was really shocked about how hot it was. The best part of USU so far is having so many people to cook for all the time.






Katie Crosland: The best part of USU so far has been the team! It really is such a unique group of girls. Everyone really does have other's best interest in mind. The funnest thing I have done with my teammates is "geocaching".








Alyssa Curtis: Best thing about USU so far have been the campfires, bike rides, climbing, etc. up the canyon, biggest challenge has been being away from family and friends.

Aggies Fall in In-State Rivalry

The ladies showed strong this past weekend against Utah and BYU, but were unable to pull out a win. The Aggies took on Utah on Thursday night losing 2-1. The solo Aggie goal came from senior Lauren Hansen off of a cross from freshman Kendra Pemberton. Saturday the Aggies hosted No. 9 BYU and fell 3-0. Despite the loss, it was a good day to be an Aggie because of the way the girls played, some successful things they were able to do in the second half, and just the overall effort of the team. The team had several chances on goal and goalkeeper Molli Merrill had several saves throughout the game to keep the Aggies in it.

This coming weekend, the Aggies travel to Louisiana Tech and New Mexico State to start WAC play! Good luck ladies!

USU Ropes Course

During preseason, the coaches took the girls to the USU Ropes Course for one of our team building activities! The girls had a blast! Take a look...

Current Status!

Currently the Aggies stand at 3-2-4 with two in-state rivalry games this weekend at Utah on Thursday at 7:30pm and then here at home on Saturday against BYU at 4pm.

Last weekend, the ladies and staff traveled to southern California where they fell to LMU 2-0 on Friday and tied UCR on Sunday 0-0. Sophomore goalkeeper, Ashlyn Mulford, recorded her first shutout bringing the Aggies to 4 shutouts this season.

Upcoming Blog posts---our new rookies' take on USU so far and the games from this upcoming weekend! Stay tuned!

Good Weekend for the Aggies!

This weekend the Aggies played two regionally ranked teams, Colorado College and Cal Poly SLO. The Aggies tied Colorady College with a PK with 45 seconds left in regulation, which was put away by Shantel Flanary. The Aggies beat Cal Poly SLO in overtime 3-2! Aggie goals were scored by Lauren Hansen, Shantel Flanary and Mari Miyashiro. Great job ladies!!! This weekend USU Soccer travels to Southern California to play Loyola Marymount and UC Riverside.

LBSU and SDSU

Last weekend, the Aggies traveled to Southern California to take on No. 24 Long Beach State on Friday and San Diego State on Sunday. We arrived in California on Thursday afternoon and had a light practice at LBSU followed by dinner in Belmont Shore and a quick walk down to the beach to enjoy the sunset! Friday rolled around, we arrive at LBSU geared up to play, and ended up scoring in the 4th minute off of a corner kick that Kendra Pemberton found the end of! We held the lead until half way through the second half when Long Beach scored off a free kick and then a few minutes later off of a through ball served over the top past our defenders. We ended up losing 2-1, however, it was the first time in Aggie Soccer history that we have led a top 25 team in a game!

On Saturday, we had a light workout in the morning, then headed down to Coronado Island where the Tillotson family opened their home to the team and the families who traveled. The girls enjoyed volleyball on the beach and an afternoon to relax a little before our Sunday game against San Diego State!

San Diego State was a tight game. We tied 1-1. We fell behind at the beginning of the 2nd half until Lauren Hansen poked the ball in the back of the net which took us into double overtime!

Despite the loss and a tie, it was still a strong showing for the Aggies! This weekend we are at home on Friday vs. Colorado College at 4pm and Sunday at 1pm vs. Cal Poly SLO.