UVSC women's soccer team wins 3 of 5

OREM — After starting the season 0-3, the UVSC women's soccer team is now 3-2 in its past five games after defeating Portland State in overtime Monday.

During the recent successful stretch, three newcomers to the Wolverine soccer program — Jenni Wright, Addie Hair and Courtney Asay-Robbins — have served as invaluable catalysts in sparking the team's turnaround.

"They are awesome," UVSC coach Justin Wagar said. "Those three are the biggest impacts that we've had this year."

Wright, a freshman midfielder who prepped at Bingham High, has scored three of the Wolverines' seven goals — including a pair in UVSC's first win of the year, a 3-1 conquest of California Baptist.

"Jenni Wright works her tail off," Wagar said. "For her size — she's what, 5-foot-1 or 5-foot-2? — she is just a little workhorse. She's a scrapper. She's persistent, she's tenacious, she's just an amazing little fighter in there."

Fellow freshman Hair is the team's fastest player and best athlete, Wagar said. A defender, Hair was a recruiting priority coming out of Lone Peak High for a UVSC team that struggled last year on the defensive end.

"Addie was our No. 1 recruit that we went after defensively," Wagar said. "One of our holes last year was our marking backs, where we kind of struggled having someone that could shut down one of their top forwards."

Hair has started all eight games so far for the Wolverines. Capable of covering a lot of ground and sticking with the swiftest striker, Hair has still had some growing moments as she adjusted to the speed of the college game.

"She is learning as the season goes on," Wagar said. "She had some hard times early with decisionmaking, being a freshman. She gave up a few (penalty kicks) early, just lack of experience — it's hard for a freshman to come in and guard the top players on the other team."

Robbins is the long-tooth of the trio of newcomers. A junior midfielder, Robbins transferred from BYU.

"She just wasn't happy (at BYU)," Wagar said. "They have a roster, about 36 players, where she didn't feel she was getting enough attention. A lot of girls are supposedly in that boat. I think she wanted a personal atmosphere where she could get a good chance and enjoy soccer again, because she wasn't having fun."