Soccer claims first WAC victory 5-1

By Drew Mattos

The Bulldogs, coming off a tough loss at Boise State on Friday, showed up on Sunday against Nevada with something to prove.

And prove they did, by winning convincingly 5-1 over Nevada, led by sophomore forward Courtney Sobrero’s three goals.

Late in the first half, the scoring began. On a free kick from about 30 yards out, Sobrero hit a hard, well-placed shot in the upper left of the goal for her first goal in the match.

Sobrero, usually a starter, came off the bench and had a huge impact on the match especially in the attacking third of the field. Junior defender Barbara Davis, also usually a starter, came off the bench as well.

“We decided to change it and bring them off the bench and let a couple other players get an opportunity to play and get a start,” head coach Steve Springthorpe said. “[Sobrero] came off the bench and stuck in some goals and the free kick was a great shot.”

Two minutes after Sobrero’s goal, freshman midfielder Andrea Alires found the net, for the first time in her career, from about 18 yards out on a pass from junior forward Kortney Lewis.

“I thought I was offsides when I got it, but I got the shot off and I was just trying to keep it low, since there was a bigger goalkeeper and I caught her leaning the wrong way,” Alires said.

At the half, the Bulldogs led 2-0. Early in the second half, the Bulldogs put the nail in the coffin when Sobrero scored her second goal on a one-time shot inside the 18-yard box over the keeper’s head and under the cross bar.

“I knew the goalie wasn’t on her line, so I figured I would turn and hit it …and I caught her off her line and the ball stayed under the post,” Sobrero said.

Nevada answered back after Sobreros’ goal with its only goal of the match in the 60th minute. Nevada forward Annie Baxter scored off a cross from Lauren Kinneman.

That was the only blemish on Fresno State goalkeeper Jeannette Paine’s day, as she was solid making some great saves in the second half, in which Nevada outshot the Bulldogs 11-6.

Sobrero then scored another goal in the 63rd, minute and freshman Aubrey Tennant closed out the scoring with a nice header off a cross from sophomore forward Antonea Lugo, with about five minutes to go in the match. The goal by Tennant was her first career goal for Fresno State.

The Bulldogs played very well considering they had trouble getting out of Boise yesterday and had to take three different flights to get home late last night.

“I’m happy with the way we responded today,” Springthorpe said. “We finished our scoring chances really well. The Boise game was real tough, we were disappointed and yesterday we had travel problems and some of us didn’t get in until midnight last night.”

The Bulldogs improved their overall record to 4-6-3 and 1-1-2 in the WAC. Nevada’s record fell to 2-10-1 and 0-3-0 in the WAC.