The Aggies made history against Washington. Just not as much as they wanted

No matter what happened Friday afternoon in Logan, Utah State’s women’s soccer team was going to make history as the eighth-seeded Aggies were hosting the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament game.
USU had previously made it to the tournament only three times ever — most recently in 2023 — but never before had the Aggies hosted a tourney game, so when play started between Utah State and No. 9 seed Washington a little after 2 p.m. at Chuck & Gloria Bell Soccer Field, history was made. The books were rewritten.
That wasn’t the only kind of history that this iteration of the Aggies were responsible for making though.
During the season, pretty inarguably the best in program history, the Aggies set record after record after record. The 2024 USU women’s soccer team now stands No. 1 all-time in program history in:
By pretty much any statistical measure, this year’s Aggies are the best Utah State has ever seen.
The storybook season came to an end Friday, however, earlier than USU had hoped. After battling the visiting Huskies for 90 scoreless minutes of regulation plus 20 scoreless minutes of overtime, the Aggies came up short on penalty kicks, 3-1.
It was a disappointing end to a stellar season.
“These are always tough,” Utah State head coach Manny Martins said. “I’m really proud of the kids’ performance. I thought we played well throughout the game. I thought we stepped it up in the second half. Went from two shots in the first half to (13) in the second half. We turned up the volume, skimmed the crossbar a couple of times. In the end, it is about the result and we fell short in PKs.”
For Washington, the upset — based on the seeding it was one, albeit slight — was the next step in what has been a hard-fought season, the first in the Big Ten for the Huskies.
“I don’t think we can be prouder of our group,” Washington head coach Nicole Van Dyke said. “We just continue to find ways to move on. Today was just another example. We knew this was going to be a hard place to play. All credit to Utah State. What a fantastic season they have had. The last couple of years you could see what they’ve done. … It was just a fantastic game.”
Though scoreless until penalty kicks, the game was not without its fireworks.
Both teams had momentum in spurts, dominating possession in 15 minute windows it seemed, in both halves and the overtime periods. The final shots tally ended in favor of USU — 15 shots total with eight on goal compared to 12 shots, three of which were on goal for the Huskies — but Washington’s goalkeepers were more than up to the task.
Husky keepers Olivia Juarez and Mia Hamant combined for eight saves in the game.
“We knew that we were playing against a team that scored a lot of goals and on the opposite they don’t give up a lot,” Van Dyke said. “We knew it was going to be a battle in the box and both teams did it exceptionally well. We were pretty confident. … We know that we have quality goalkeeping.”
Utah State had its opportunities, though, and in the second half especially.
In a 10-minute window midway through the second frame, the Aggies had a pair of shots on goal and another strike by sophomore forward Kate Christian that clanged off the crossbar.
Close to the end of regulation, the Aggies furiously attacked and generated a few more scoring chances, but none of them could get through.
That run of play for Utah State continued into overtime, where USU outshot UW 3-2 in total.
“It was a change in attitude, our conviction in the box,” Martins said. “We had some chances.”
Martins believed his team was going to get its breakthrough. They had all year, after all, losing only one game out of 23 played before Friday.
“I was confident,” he said. “This team has been great all year and scored 62 goals. … I was pretty confident one was going to make it through.”
But none did, even as Hamant replaced an injured Juarez in goal for Washington.
Entering penalty kicks, emotions were high, Aggie sophomore midfielder Summer Diamond said. That isn’t exactly unusual, of course. Penalty kicks are unnerving for the most confident of players.
Throw in the stakes — win or the season is over — and emotions were surely at a fever pitch for both teams. The senior-led Aggies were confident they could pull it out, though.
“We have great leaders who were willing to step up and do it,” Diamond said.
On the other side, Washington was confident, too. Before the game, the Huskies made the decision that Hamant would be in goal if things went to penalty kicks.
UW felt she was its best option at defending PKs, and her getting to play in overtime after Juarez left with a lower leg injury proved to be something of blessing in disguise, especially given the fact that she played in front of the Utah State student section — the HURD — the entire time she was in goal.
“That was crazy,” Hamant said. “I haven’t really experienced anything like that before, but having them yell at me in warmups and in the second overtime helped me get used to it.”
In truth, Hamant didn’t need to do much during PKs. Three of the four Aggies who attempted penalty kicks missed their shots — midfielder Rine Yonaha off the crossbar, forward Mia Mullenmeister just wide right and defensive back Kylie Olsen over the goal.
Washington, on the other hand, went a perfect 3 for 3. It was maybe the worst way to lose for Utah State. A competitive loss undone by something as practiced as PKs.
Yet real optimism remained after the contest was over. Martins noted that last year the Aggies lost their first round game 2-0 at No. 1 BYU.
This year, they lost 0-0 (3-1), and with much of the team young and a notable class of freshmen incoming, the future appears bright in Logan.
“I’m really, really excited,” Martins said. “We are graduating some phenomenal players, but we have so many young players who’ve contributed, so the future is very bright.
“We have so many who contributed this year as freshmen and we have an incredible class of freshmen coming in. We are excited. We are a team now. We understand that we are a (NCAA) tournament team. We aren’t a team that is just trying to win some games. We are a tournament team, and anyone who comes on board knows that.”