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Show Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 Page 13 MondaySports Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.aggietownsquare.com Iced: Ags regulate on Weber By G. CHRISTOPHER TERRY assistant sports editor AGGIE WING TYLER MISTELBACHER raises his arms in celebration after scoring his second goal against Weber State Friday night in the Eccles Ice Arena. Mistelbacher finished with a hat trick as USU asserted its dominance over a fierce instate rival, 10-3. G. CHRISTOPHER TERRY photo If game recognizes game then the Weber State Wildcats are looking kind of unfamiliar right now. Freshman wing Tyler Mistelbacher bulled his way to a hat trick, junior wing Brendan MacDonald had a gamehigh four points, and the Utah State Aggies left no doubt in a dominant 10-3 win over the Wildcats Friday night in the Eccles Ice Arena. “We turned all of our chances into scoring opportunities,” USU’s Jeff Sanders said, “and we buried all of them, so I think the next time they come here they’re going to be a little more timid.” Weber State goalie Jonas Jorgensen’s inability to control rebounds put the Wildcats behind an eight ball the size of Gibraltar from early in the first peri- od. With fewer than five minutes off the clock, some nice power-play passing by Jay McFadden and Sanders teed the puck up for defender Jeremy Martin, who buried a slap shot from the point. Despite being hampered with a goalie who seemingly couldn’t glove a little league grounder, the Wildcats demonstrated that they can be dangerous, particularly if they can move through the neutral zone with speed. With 11:09 remaining, Weber’s Chris Dietsch scored on the rush to tie the game. Weber almost took the lead moments later when Billy Gouthro gave a puck away to Chris Roberts at the Weber blue line, and Roberts was off to the races heading the other way. Finatti snuffed out the breakaway, one of the few times he was truly tested in the - See ICED, page 16 Game 8: Fresno 31, USU 27 Aggies fade in second By TIM OLSEN sports editor Twenty-seven first-half points and a 10-point halftime lead had Utah State (2-6, 1-3) thinking upset on the road Saturday at Fresno State (5-3, 4-1). But two missed field goals and the inability to execute in critical situations during the second half doomed the Aggies once again, as they lost to the Bulldogs 31-27. “It’s about the third time this year we’ve lost in the fourth quarter. It never gets any easier. It just keeps getting harder and harder,” said USU junior receiver Eric Moats in a post-game radio interview. “The team’s there, we’re right there, but for some reason we just can’t put it away. It’s just something we’ve got to learn to do.” Coming off its first conference win of the season, USU played with a fire on the road forcing the Bulldogs into two second-quarter turnovers. The Aggies turned those turnovers into 10 points. After falling behind 17-10, the Aggies scored 17 points in the second quarter. USU quarterback Diondre Borel and sophomore running back Robert Turbin each played a major role in the push, and each recorded one-yard touchdown runs. Turbin, who finished with 138 yards rushing on 19 carries, outshined Fresno State’s Ryan Mathews – the nation’s leading rusher – during the first three quarters of play. “Mathews has had a great season so far, but I think Robert Turbin is the best back in the WAC, no question,” Moats said. “The work ethic that Turbo has on and off the field, the leadership qualities that he shows, he’s just a wonderful young man and he leads this team on and off the field.” Following Borel’s score, with fewer than two minutes remaining in the period, safety Rajric Coleman intercepted Bulldog quarterback Ryan Colburn, giving the ball to USU at its own 44-yard line. The Aggies were able to move the ball down to the Fresno AGGIES LIZ MCARTHUR, Chelsea Fowles and Lauren Bodily chase after a volleyball Saturday night in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. USU lost to New Mexico State in three sets. PATRICK ODEN photo FRESNO STATE RUNNING BACK Ryan Mathews sheds a tackler and gains yardage against Utah State Saturday afternoon in Fresno, Calif. Mathews finished with 185 yards on the ground and two rushing touchdowns. AP photo State six-yard line before the clock forced USU to settle for a 23-yard Chris Ulinski field goal. However, in what has become a familiar scene for Aggie fans, coaches and players, one great half of play doesn’t add up to a win. Favored by 17-points coming in, Fresno State methodically began to work its way back into the game. After trading punts early in the second half, the Bulldogs struck first when running back Lonyae Miller scored on a two-yard run midway through the third quarter. The score pulled Fresno State back within a field goal of the Aggies. For the remainder of the third, the defenses stepped up again, and neither team had a chance to score until the Aggies were able to move the ball down to the Bulldog’s 14yard line in the fourth quarter. An incomplete pass on third down forced the Aggies, once again, to settle for a field goal. Ulinksi subsequently missed the 31-yard attempt, giving even more momentum back to the home team. “We’ve got to be able to score in the red zone, get some more touchdowns,” USU head coach Gary Andersen said in a post-game radio interview. “The game becomes physical in those situations, and at this point we’re struggling on offense - See FADE, page 16 Volleyball Back off track By Connor Jones sports senior writer Following a much needed win on Thursday night, the volleyball team returned to the Spectrum on Saturday and lost to New Mexico State in three sets. USU’s record is now 13-12 overall and 4-8 in conference play while NMSU moves to 9-3 in the conference and 14-8 overall. “We needed to find a way to dig and touch some balls, but we couldn’t for the first two games,” head coach Grayson DuBose said. “In the third, we started to get on some good tendencies but by then it was too little too late.” The first set saw USU jump out to an early lead before, up with a score of 10-7, three straight attack errors from Liz McArthur, followed by a NMSU service ace and a powerful kill by NMSU’s star outside hitter, Kayleigh Giddens. New Mexico State took the lead 12-10. With USU down 23-19, the Aggies went on a 5-0 run and had match point six times before NMSU took the first set 31-29. The New Mags had a .167 (1910-54) hitting percentage in the first set, compared to USU’s .091 (13-8-55). Utah State hit a dismal .028 (9-8-36) percentage in the second set while New Mexico State hit a .333 (16-3-39). After the tough first-set loss the Aggies were never able to get in a groove during the second set, losing 16-25. In the third set, New Mexico State was held close until at 8-8 the New Mags went on a 4-1 run to lead 9-12. NMSU went on to win the set 25-21 and the match 3-0. USU hit a .043 (12-11-46) percentage while NMSU hit a .235 (12-4-34). USU finished the match with a hitting percentage of .058 (35-27137) while New Mexico hit a .236 (47-17-127). The Aggies’ two more service aces than New Mexico and four fewer service errors were irrelevant as USU had 10 more attack errors and five fewer team blocks. Junior middle blocker Danielle Taylor led the Ags with eight kills and only one hitting error. – c.h.j@aggiemail.usu.edu TouchBase WACStandings Football WAC Nevada 4-0 Boise State 3-0 Fresno State 4-1 Idaho 4-1 La. Tech 2-3 N.M. State 1-3 Utah State 1-3 S.J. State 0-3 Hawaii 0-5 Overall 5-3 8-0 5-3 7-2 3-5 3-6 2-6 1-6 2-6 Soccer seniors go out strong, 3-0 over NMSU By USU ATHLETICS Utah State soccer sent its seniors out in style with an impressive 3-0 win over New Mexico State Sunday at Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field. The Aggies honored seniors Lindsey Smart, Erin Salmon and Sydne Garner by scoring two goals in the first three minutes of play. With the win, Utah State clinched the second seed in the upcoming Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Boise, Idaho, Nov. 5-8. The Aggies end the regular season 10-8-2 and 5-2-1 in WAC action. USU has now won at least 10 matches four-straight seasons and advanced to the WAC Tournament all five seasons it has been in the league. New Mexico State dropped to 9-8-1 overall and 4-3-1 in the league and awaits its seed in the tournament. “This was a pretty fun way to send out our seniors,” USU head coach Heather Cairns said. “It is our fourth consecutive 10-win season. With the win we took second in the league, and we get a bye in the first round. The thing that I am most proud of was that we played 90 minutes. I couldn’t have asked for our team to come out harder.” Utah State wasted no time getting on the board, scoring its fastest goal of the season. Sophomore forward Shantel Flanary headed in a goal to the far post off the pass from fellow sophomore Allie Maduell just 18 seconds into the match to give USU the early 1-0 lead. The goal was Flanary’s team-leading 10th goal of the season and ties Lauren Hansen’s 2007 mark for fifth all-time in goals in a season. She now has 10 goals and three assists for 23 points which is also fifth for most points in a season. Junior Heather Pond gave the Aggies a 2-0 advantage in the third minute of the match, scoring her first goal of the season. Pond took a Lauren Hansen pass and blasted in a shot from 20 yards out. Hansen now has three assists this season. “What we heard about New Mexico State was that they play a whole 90 minutes,” Pond said. “We knew that we had to come out hard. Friday we had a break in our game when we lost it. So that was one of our main goals today was to play a whole 90 minutes.” The USU defense kept NMSU off the scoreboard in the first half, as USU |