Hours before Real Salt Lake took the field against the Seattle Sounders in Sandy, University of Utah women’s soccer goalkeeper Carly Nelson put on her best Nick Rimando impression.
The sophomore from Lindon saved 10 shots, including a USC penalty kick, to preserve a 0-0 double-overtime draw against the defending Pac-12 champions as the Utes opened conference play on Saturday at Ute Field.
“I thought we battled really hard, we competed, especially as the game wore on. It was kind of a test of your competitive spirit and your will, and I thought we did well in that area,” Utah head coach Rich Manning said. “We love playing them (USC), they’re really good and they’re really smart.”
“It feels really good, they’re reigning champions, so we put in a fight and got a tie, at least, it’s better than a loss,” Nelson said.
USC controlled the pace of the match from the onset and registered 18 shots to Utah’s 11, but the Trojans couldn’t break through against Utah’s defense, led by Nelson.
USC’s best chance of the match came in the 88th minute of regulation. After a foul in the penalty box by Utah, Savannah DeMelo — who was the key figure in the Trojans’ attack throughout the match — stepped to the spot, primed to give USC the lead.
Nelson had other ideas.
DeMelo shot left, Nelson guessed left and pushed the ball right, back into the box in front of DeMelo, but midfielder Paola Van der Veen swiped the ball from DeMelo to quell any chance of a second shot.
“I’ve never faced her (DeMelo) in a PK (penalty kick), I kind of just went with my intuition, I went with what I felt like doing,” Nelson said.
Manning said that Saturday’s match was the best that he’s seen Nelson play.
“The last two games, she’s really coming around, and good for her,” Manning said.
Utah had a number of chances throughout the match but couldn’t convert on any of them. In the 23rd minute, Natalee Wells’ kick was cleanly saved, and Trojan goalkeeper Kaylie Collins denied Van der Veen on a 35th-minute free kick with a diving save. In the second half, a chance by Natalie Vukic was saved.
The Trojans also had plenty of opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net. Most of USC’s shots were driven by DeMelo, who was denied by Nelson shot after shot. In the 78th minute, DeMelo hit the left post, narrowly missing a chance to put the Trojans ahead.
In the 20 minutes of overtime, Utah pushed for a goal — outshooting USC 4 to 2 — but couldn’t finish, and the match ended in a tie. The Utes' best chance of the overtime period came on a Hailey Skolmoski header, but it was saved by Collins.
For Manning and the Utes, Saturday’s match against a top-10 opponent was just the start of a string of tough Pac-12 contests.
“This has taken me seven years, I’m a slow learner, being in the league. As important as this game is, you have to move on and get ready for the next one. If you start thinking about how good all these teams are, I’ll be hanging out downtown at the pubs and Scott (Halasz) and Gabe (Smart) (assistant coaches) will be coaching the whole time,” Manning said. “It’s daunting when you start thinking about it, it just has to be, ‘OK, this is a good game, let’s enjoy it, we have a good team. Let’s go toe-to-toe and rock-and-roll and see where we finish up and get onto the next one.’”