Eagles bring the heat to Vegas

This archived article was written by: Nicolas Schapochnik

Eagles finishes road trip to Vegas with a 1-1 record
The Utah State Eastern Eagles men’s soccer team went on the road and split two non-conference game on Aug. 31, against Lake Tahoe Community College and on Sept. 2, against Grand Canyon University Club.
Playing in 100 plus temperatures in Las Vegas, Nev, is always hard on the athletes and they have to play at noon. Despite controlling a good part of the first game, the Eagles faced the same problem of the last games, silly mistakes made the other team score while the Eagles  could not capitalize on “easy opportunities.”
 The Eagles took more shots than the other team, and more possession. Freshman Jojea Kwizera lead the team on shots with three and sophomore Goal keeper, Austin Munoz, finish with an impressive eight saves. Although the stats were on Eastern side, LTCC was more efficient and end the game with a 2-0 victory.  
On Saturday, Eastern came ready for the battle, finishing with a impressive 7-0 against Grand Canyon club team. Like the score reflect, the Eagles played confident and comfortable, taking control of the field and keeping the possession of the ball high.
Sophomore Xavier Smith lead the team in goals with two, and other five players scored: Jojea Kwizera, Jaysten Flowers, Jae Patridge, Tyler Malan and Frank Debery. Both freshman Dylan Barbosa and Guillermo Hernandez contributed in the assists.
Sophomore and captain Paul Zarkin said,
“We played very well defensively in the first game against Lake Tahoe and they had luck on their both goals, one on a cross and the other was on a offside that the referee didn’t see. We had a lot of chances but we couldn’t find the back of the net. The second game we won 7-0 but it should have been much greater, we will have a lot of offensive drills this week on practice. Next week games against College of Southern Nevada will be tough, but I believe we can come back with two W’s if  we capitalize our chances offensively and keep the defense like its has been.”
The Eagles are excited about this team this fall, with a lot of new players and a strong base of sophomores. They look promise on the field and the expectations are high. Hopefully they will be able to “take” all this talent off the paper and finish the season in the nationals.
Next weekend the Eagles will take on the CSN for their first conference games of the 2017 season. They play both on friday and saturday and hopefully they will start their region games with a first time ever win over that team on their home field!
About the last two games head coach Ammon Bennett said that even still missing some easy plays, he thought they improved a lot and he’s really excited for the upcoming conference schedule.
“It will be a tough challenge against CSN, we look forward to it,” he said.