Soccer Records First-Ever Ranked Win, Blanking No. 11 Utah State, 2-0

LARAMIE, Wyoming (10/10/24) – University of Wyoming soccer head coach Josh Purdum challenged his seniors ahead of Thursday’s match against No. 11 Utah State at the Madrid Sports Complex. He urged them to guide the squad against a nationally-ranked Mountain West Conference foe.

The seniors met their coach’s challenge. And the team followed those veterans to a historic victory.

The Cowgirls shut out Utah State, 2-0, behind a pair of goals from seniors Alyssa Bedard and Maddi Chance. The win is Wyoming first-ever against a nationally-ranked team.

“I challenged our seniors to come out and put the game on their back,” Purdum said. “I challenged our seniors to get the group to believe they’re the team to beat. Today, we showed a version of that.”

The victory improves Wyoming to 4-4-5 overall and 2-1-2 (8 points) in league action. The loss, the Aggies first of the season, drops them to 12-1-2 overall and 3-1-1 (10 points) in conference play.

Utah State entered Thursday having scored 42 goals on the season. That ranked second in the country. Wyoming countered with goalkeeper Haley Bartel’s sixth shutout of the season.

“To be able to shut out a team like that is fantastic,” Purdum said. “We’ve put some good performances together. We are trying to find that consistency. We’ve now gotten two games in a row that we felt like we controlled a lot of it.”

As stated, Bedard accounted for the first goal Thursday. She took advantage of a penalty kick in the 14th minute due to a handball in the box. It’s Bedard’s fifth score of the season and 16th of her career, which moves her into a tie for eighth all-time in program history.

Chance’s goal also moved her higher in the record books. She headed in a score during the 33rd minute that gave her 15 for her career, which is tied for 10th in school history.  

Bartel made it all stand up with a trio of saves. It’s her seventh career shutout.

Wyoming had been 0-14-0 all-time against ranked foes. The challenge now is to back it up. The Cowgirls host Boise State, which is also located toward the top of the conference, with 10 points.

“We have more to prove, more to do,” Purdum said. “But again, the seniors are pushing the group forward, and it’s their team to collectively guide to what a victory could look like, to what a group performance could look like.”

Wyoming’s match against Boise State is Sunday at 12 p.m. at the Madrid Sports Complex.