OREM, Utah – Utah Valley University had three different goal scorers en route to a 3-0 win to upend Houston Baptist to open the WAC season on Saturday night at Clyde Field.
Luis Vargas,
Zahir Vazquez and
Blake Frischknecht all scored for the Wolverines (4-3-1, 1-0-0) and
Mitch Jensen collected seven saves for the shutout and three points in the standings.
The win wrapped up Homecoming week for Utah Valley University and followed victories by UVU volleyball (3-2 over UTRGV) and women's soccer (3-2 over North Dakota State) earlier on Saturday.
"I'm very proud of our team's execution individually and collectively tonight. We played with purpose, scored some fantastic team goals, and we defended very cohesively as well. It was a great start to WAC play," UVU head coach
Greg Maas said." "I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we have one of the best soccer environments in college soccer. The Den was rockin' and our alumni were out in force for Homecoming. It was simply another special night for UVU soccer on Clyde Field."
Vargas gave the Wolverines the lead on a penalty kick in the 21st minute after UVU was awarded the PK on a handball in the box against the Huskies.
Vazquez gave Utah Valley a two-nil advantage in the 42nd minute when he bent the ball in from 25 yards out on a highlight-reel goal that froze HBU goalkeeper Jorge Guzman.
Aaron Nixon and
Leo Fuchs both assisted on the Vazquez' first goal of the season.
Frischknecht's header in the 58th minute extended UVU's advantage to three-nil.
Mark Brown left the ball for
Zach Maas, who delivered a perfect pass from 40 yards out towards the far post, where Frischknecht got his head on it near the corner of the six and scored his fifth goal of the season.
The Wolverines finished with 16 shots, eight on goal while the Huskies (2-5-0, 0-1-0) totaled 12 shots, seven on frame.
Utah Valley travels to Texas for a pair of WAC contests next week. UVU will play at UT Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg next Friday, Oct. 4 and at Incarnate Word in San Antonio on Sunday, Oct. 6.
