Oregon State
Utah
Richardson's Two Goals Leads Beavers to Pac-12 Opening Win against Utah, 2-0
September 21, 2012 | Women's Soccer
Sept. 21, 2012
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Junior forward notches goals no. three and four on the season as OSU wins its fifth straight
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Led by Jenna Richardson's pair of goals, the Oregon State Beavers notched their first conference win of the year, defeating Utah 2-0, Friday night at Lorenz Field. Richardson scored one in the first half and another in the second for her third and fourth scores of the season as OSU improved to 9-1-0 and 1-0-0 on the year in conference play. With the loss, the Utes dropped to 5-2-2 and 0-1-0 in the Pac-12.
The match did not see much action in the first few minutes as its first shot came in the ninth minute, fittingly by Richardson. It would take the junior forward and her team another 26-minutes before they were able to put a point on the board as Richardson took a pass from junior Haley Shaw and converted on her third goal of the year to give Oregon State a 1-0 lead.
The Beaver defense backed by goalie Sammy Jo Prudhomme protected that slim margin as the freshman stopped a total of five shots in the first 45-minutes, allowing her team to go into the half with that one point advantage.
OSU came out of halftime looking to put the match away and that is just what Richardson tried to help do when in the 62nd minute she fired a shot on Utah goalie Lindsey Luke, which she deflected and then dove to stop the ball from rolling in the net. The almost improbable save kept the Utes in the match but only for a little while as Richardson, refusing to be denied took matters into her own hands, quite literally.
In the 75th minute she put some of her fancy footwork to use and knocked an unassisted goal in to the far right corner of the net to give her team a commanding 2-0 lead. The goal was Richardson's second on the night and fourth overall this season, propelling her into the team lead.
From that juncture, Prudhomme would have all the cushion she needed as she racked up four more saves for a grand total of nine on the night, pushing her season total to 31.
The Beavers, now winners of five in-a-row are off to their best start in program history. They have had separate win streaks of four and five to start the year and will look to improve upon that solid start as they hit the road next week for two tough match-ups with Pac-12 opponents.
On Thursday, OSU will take on the No. 3 ranked Stanford Cardinal and on Sunday it travels to Berkeley to play California. Both matches will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
POST MATCH QUOTES
OSU Head Coach Linus Rhode
On getting a win in his team's first Pac-12 match
“To come out the first game of conference play and get a win is a great start. We couldn't ask for anything more. I thought the girls played a good game and if we play like that than we will definitely get more wins.”
On his team's performance…
“To score early on in the game I think it was a nice feeling for everybody. Obviously Jenna had a outstanding game tonight around the goal but she did a lot of good things in the build-up play. I can say the same thing about her teammates for sure.”
On how the team is coming together…
“We are starting to click more as a group. We have been working the last few weeks on what we need to do in the attack to use all of our strengths so it is all starting to come together more throughout the 90-minutes of play.”
Junior Forward Jenna Richardson
On getting OSU's first Pac-12 victory of the season…
“Obviously this is the best start we could get and we are all pretty excited. We were geared up in the locker room and did not come out flat so we were excited about that. We gave a good 90 minutes tonight.”
On her two goal performance…
It started from the team and was not an individual effort at all but it feels good to finally start putting some away again. I had two in the beginning and kind of had a little bit of a lull there.”
Freshman Goalie Sammy Jo Prudhomme
On the team's first win in Pac-12 play…
“It means a lot. We were coming out here, ready to go every day working hard in practice. Everything that we worked on we executed pretty well tonight.”
On teammate Jenna Richardson's scoring abilities…
“It's good for the team that we have a scoring threat up top and from the front its better because I can get the ball up, knowing that they can get it to somebody that can make something happen.”
On her nerves going into her first Pac-12 match…
“Coming in I was anxious to play but I just buried myself in my warm-up, came out focused and I just was able to stay focused for 90-minutes which was good for the team.”
POST MATCH NOTES
--The Beavers' 9-1-0 record is the school's best start after the first 10 matches of a season in program history.
--Beaver head coach Linus Rhode won his 58th career match during his four plus years in Corvallis, putting him just two-dozen wins away from passing Steve Fennah (81) for the all-time program lead.
--OSU moves to 3-1-0 against Utah all time and 2-0-0 at home, dating back to 2008.
--With her two goals, junior Jenna Richardson now has 21 in her OSU career and moves into tie for sixth place on the all-time program list with Jeannette Scottie (1993-96) and Katie Henderson (1999-02)
--This is not the first time Richardson has scored two goals in a match, as she netted a hat trick her freshman year (2010) versus Memphis in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
--The last Beaver to score two goals in a match was Chelsea Buckland on Oct. 30, 2011 when she put a pair in the net during a 3-0 win over California.
--Freshman Sammy Jo Prudhomme is now a perfect 4-0-0 in goal this season, with three of her four victories coming in shutout fashion.
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