The Jackrabbits women’s soccer team secured two wins this past week and is looking ahead to have a successful season.
The Jacks played Iowa State on Aug. 27 where they won the match 2-1.
Trailing 1-0 after the first half of play, the Jacks made a comeback after halftime. They scored two goals in the second half, each by a different player.
The Jacks had the first five shots of the period which were followed by a goal from Avery Murdzek. A pass from Lauren Eckerle was deflected by two Iowa State defenders and Murdzek received the ball, then fired it past the goalkeeper scoring the tie goal.
Maya Hansen scored the go-ahead goal for the Jacks in the 87th minute of the match. This goal would give the Jacks the lead for the rest of the game.
These two goals along with a strong performance by the Jacks’ defenders helped them secure the win. The two defenders, Hayley Lindaman and Kaycee Manding each played 90 minutes in the match and midfielder Reagan Anderson played for 85.
During this game, Murdzek had one of her top performances of the season following her outstanding performance against Drake where she scored the game-winning goal.
Within the games against Drake and Iowa State, she scored four points on two goals made. She played a total of 161 minutes with six shots, three of which were on target.
These performances would prove to be some of the best as she was awarded the Summit League Player of the Week. This would be the first of her career and the first weekly award for the Jackrabbits this season.
Although she earned the Player of the Week, she gave credit to the team as a whole for the wins against Drake and Iowa State.
“The closer games are almost the most fun to play and our team just worked really really well together, and it was definitely a team effort to pull out those wins,” said Murdzek.
The two games were very physical and challenging for the Jacks, but head coach Brock Thompson is proud of how his team approaches moments in those games.
“When that’s the case there is going to be combative moments and I’m proud of the way our team handled those moments,” said Thompson.
For their next competitions, the Jacks will hit the road for two away matches.
The first match they will play is against the Utah State Aggies. The Mountain West Conference team has a record of 1-3 to start the season.
The Aggies started out their season with their home opener in which they won 5-1 against Weber State of the Big Sky Conference. This game would be followed by two losses at home.
Their first loss was to Saint Louis out of the Atlantic 10 Conference in a match that ended 2-0 in favor of Saint Louis. The following loss was to the Utes of Utah in a tight match ending 1-0 in favor of the Utes.
The Jacks will play Utah State on Sept. 1 at 6 p.m. in Logan, Utah.
Murdzek is excited to play at Utah, not only to be playing soccer but for other reasons too.
“I heard it’s super pretty and my parents are also going so I’m excited,” said Murdzek.
Their opponents after playing Utah State will be the Idaho State Bengals.
The opponent out of the Big Sky Conference has had a slow start to their season, starting with a record of 0-4.
The Bengals started their season with three road games all of which they were defeated in.
Their first match ended 5-0 in favor of their opponent from UC Davis out of the Big West Conference. Then, they played St. Mary’s and lost in a tight match 2-1 where the Gaels took the win.
Those two matches were followed by another loss on the road and a loss in their home opener. In the final match of their road games, the Bengals took on Wake Forest in a match where the Demon Deacons won 3-0.
Their home opener at Davis Field was against Utah Valley out of the Western Athletic Conference. The Bengals fell to Utah Valley 6-0 adding another loss to their record.
Following their game against Utah State, the Jacks will take on Idaho State on Sept. 3 at 2 p.m. in Pocatello, Idaho.
With this long road trip ahead, Coach Thompson looks at it as a great team bonding experience.
“One of the best parts of being on the road is you’re all on the same schedule and you’re all together, that’s the exciting piece.”
