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Show Monday, Sept. 26, 2011 Page 10 IN ELI et* I MondaySp0 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Touch Base WACStandings Football Fresno State Nevada SJSU Hawaii Utah State La. Tech Idaho NMSU WAC 1-0 1-0 1-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-1 OVERALL 2-2 1-2 1-3 2-2 1-2 1-3 1-3 1-3 Top 25 Record 1. LSU (42) 4-0 2. Oklahoma (12) 3-0 3. Alabama (5) 4-0 4. Boise St. (1) 3-0 5. Oklahoma St. 4-0 6. Stanford 3-0 7. Wisconsin 4-0 8. Nebraska 4-0 9. Oregon 3-1 10. South Carolina 4-0 11. Virginia Tech 4-0 12. Florida 4-0 13. Clemson 4-0 14. Texas A&M 2-1 15. Baylor 3-0 16. South Florida 4-0 17. Texas 3-0 18. Arkansas 3-1 19. Michigan 4-0 20. TCU 3-1 21. Georgia Tech 4-0 22. West Virginia 3-1 23. Florida St. 2-2 24. Illinois 4-0 25. Arizona St. 3-1 Pts 1,471 1,422 1,413 1,280 1,209 1,205 1,177 991 985 950 883 820 744 734 659 585 466 434 417 338 298 280 239 179 112 Pv 2 1 3 4 7 5 6 9 10 12 13 15 21 8 17 18 19 14 22 20 25 16 11 24 NR Men's soccer sweeps matches against in-state foes BY MACAEL IVIE staff writer The Utah State men's soccer team remains undefeated after claiming victory in both of its away games this weekend. Saturday morning, the Aggies took to the field and defeated the Westminster Griffins, 4-1. The team played aggressively from the beginning, scoring its first two goals in the first 10 minutes. In the 4th minute of play, forward Nico Laicak pulled out his first of two goals. Inside midfielder Jordan Butterfield came up soon after, in the 8th minute, to get in the second goal of the game, after a penalty kick, warming up his offense to score twice again later in the day, against Utah Valley. Westminster was then able to get a goal off a deflection from a corner kick to bring the score 2-1, when it remained up until halftime. In the second half, the Aggies gained possession and continued to gain ground against the Griffins, as Laicak scored his second goal of the game at the 78th minute. "I've played on several different teams, and this one specifically has something special in terms of talent and team spirit," Laicak said. "I believe it has something to do with the way Coach Morgan leads us. In the Westminster game, we played a good possession and won deservedly." In the last few minutes of the game, forward Hayden Monson scored at the 89th minute on a breakaway kick, after he got past the goalie and dribbled it in for the Aggies' fourth goal of the game. With only a four-hour break between games, the Aggies brought out another strong defense to take on the Utah Valley Wolverines and to add another victory to the undefeated season, winning the game 4-2. Utah State was able to pull out its first two goals within the first 15 minutes of the game. Outside midfielder James Calvimonte scored a breakaway goal at the 10th minute to start the game. Team captain and center back Trey Leonard scored just five minutes later on a header off of a perfect cross. "We dominated the majority of the game," Leonard said. "Our success was based off a high percentage of possession, and keeping patient and organized." The score remained 2-0 into the second half, until inside midfielder Jordan Butterfield added a goal with a harddriven shot into the corner of the net at the 65th minute, which was good for his first goal of the game and second goal on the day. After a hard 10 minutes of play, the Wolverines scored as Utah State conceded a goal. Soon after, Utah Valley made a penalty kick, bringing the score 3-2. After Utah Valley scored its two goals and a Utah State See SOCCER, Page 12 Turbin and Koskan honored BY USU ATHLETICS Utah State football players Robert Turbin and Levi Koskan were recognized by collegefootballperformance.com with honorable mention awards for their respective positions for their performances in USU's heartbreaking, 35-34, Homecoming loss to Colorado State Saturday night. Turbin was tabbed to the honorable mention Running Back of the Week list while Koskan collected honorable mention Defensive End of the Week accolades. Turbin, a junior from Fremont, Calif., rushed for a career-high four touchdowns as part of his 115 yard rushing outing. Turbin is ranked 11th in the FBS and leads the WAC in rushing at 121.7 ypg. Turbin is third in the country and tops in the conference in scoring with 16.0 ppg. Koskan a senior from Smithfield, Utah, posted three tackles for loss including two sacks Saturday night, finishing night with five total tackles. His three TFL's were for 29 yards, with 14 of those coming on his two sacks. ROBERT TURBIN HANGS his head after failing to reach the end zone on a two-point conversion attempt. The junior running back scored from 25 yards out to cut the lead, 35-34, but fell short on a running play to the left that could have won the game. TODD JONES photo Homecoming heartbreak Turnovers and special teams prove costly for Aggies BY TAVIN STUCK! sports editor Utah State managed to invent another way to lose a game in the same pattern as they lost to Auburn earlier this season. The Aggies blew an eight point lead in the fourth quarter and lost to Colorado State in overtime, 35-34, Saturday. Running back Robert Turbin had 115 yards and four touchdowns in the game, but came up short in the final two-point conversion attempt which would have sealed homecoming victory for the Aggies. "Maybe I could have stopped on a dime and ran the other way," said the junior from Freemont, Calif. "Colorado State is not a good enough team to beat us, I'm sorry. We beat ourselves." Up by eight with 2:17 left on the clock in regulation, thoughts of overtime and two-point conversion might-have-beens were not at all what the Aggies were concentrating on. They had just stopped Colorado State on third down, and all USU needed to do to earn a win was field a punt and run the clock out. Instead, receiver Eric Moats muffed the fair catch and fumbled the ball 15 yards away from the goal. The Rams scored four plays later on a 1-yard run by Chris Nwoke, who finished the game with 85 yards and two touchdowns. Down two, with 42 seconds in the fourth quarter, Colorado State lined up for the two-point conversion, but a false start penalty backed them up to the 8-yard line. The extra distance was not enough to help the Aggies make a stop, and the game went into overtime, 21-21. Each team scored two touchdowns in the overtime periods, but Utah State elected to go for the win after the second overtime. Having just scored, and down by one, 35-34, the Aggies lined up for their bread-and-butter two-point conversion play. Quarterback Chuckie Keeton threw to receiver Matt Austin, but the ball was batted away by the Colorado State defense. Luckily for the Aggies, a pass interference penalty was called, and the Aggies got a second chance from one and a half yards out. Turbin took the handoff on the next play and sprinted to the left edge, only to be stood up by a pair of CSU defenders and wrestled out of bounds, as the Ram coaching staff and players rushed onto the field in celebration. Turbin said the play will stick with him forever. "We got a second chance and blew it," Turbin said. "I blew it. 'I lost the game,' was the first thing that kind of ran through my mind." The question is, why not kick the extra point and go for two in the third overtime when mandated by the rulebook? "The reason for going for two was I believe in the team," USU head coach Gary Andersen said. "I believe we can score from the 3-yard line at any time. I surely believe we can score from the 1 1/2-yard line, the 1-yard line, it doesn't matter. I'd do it again in a second; I'm always going to coach aggressive." Colorado State head coach Steve Fairchild said he wasn't surprised See FOOTBALL, Page 11 1/////////////////////////) GET CAUGHT IN I AND GET TRAFFIC FLAGGED I FOR DELAY OF GAME BEAT GAME TIME TRAFFIC (AVOID 4-6 PM) RECOMMENDED ROUTE: TAKE EXIT 271 (OREM CENTER STREET) THEN UNIVERSITY AVE SOUTH TO GAME Facebook.com/il5core 0 Twitter.com/i15core UTAH COUNTY CORE CORRIDOR EXPANSION A UDOT Project f/MMIMMIZ/ZZ/Z/ZZ/J |