OREM, Utah — Ura Miura scored his second goal of the season and the Wolverine defense pitched a shutout to lead the Utah Valley men's soccer team to a 2-0 win over WAC foe Air Force on a cold and rainy Thursday night at Clyde Field.
Parker Allen stopped the lone shot he was faced with on the night en route to his first-career clean sheet. The Wolverines picked up their second goal of the night via an own goal off a cross by Elijah Gozo.
"Nobody's gonna give us a win. We've gotta go get it ourselves," said head coach Kyle Beckerman. "It's a credit to those guys out there. They stuck with it and they kept believing. We needed one to get a spark and hopefully catch a flame."
Utah Valley played a strong game on both sides of the ball, rarely letting the Falcons gain much extended possession. The Wolverines closed the night with an 11-3 shot advantage, with a 3-1 edge in shots on goal.
Utah Valley dominated possession for much of the opening half, and broke through in the 17th minute after some quick passing through the midfield created a breakaway. Owen Knecht won a contested header and flicked it on to Miura, who left his defender in the dust and chipped the keeper to give the Wolverines a 1-0 advantage.
Less than five minutes later, Utah Valley put another goal in the back of the net after a cross took a fortunate bounce off a Falcon defender. Alejandro Silva sent a cross to Gozo, who beat his man to the endline. Gozo's cross went through the six and was tapped in by a sliding Air Force defender, who was cutting in front of Knecht.
The Falcons came out strong in the second half and got their best look at goal in the 50th minute. After a long throw-in was headed to the center of the penalty area, Luke Hill ripped a shot towards the right post, but Allen was able to make a diving stop.
The Wolverines had an opportunity to put a third goal on the board in the 81st minute, but a pair of shots by Tom Dobek-Pietrowski and Nik Kizerian were blocked.
Utah Valley will head to Las Vegas for its final road game of the regular season on Sunday when the Wolverines face off with the UNLV Rebels. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. MDT, and the match will be streamed live on WAC International.
