Faith Webber recorded Utah Valley’s first hat trick since 2018 and led the Wolverines back from a 0-3 second half deficit to defeat California Baptist, 4-3, on Friday night at Clyde Field.

Utah Valley improves to 6-2-3 overall and 2-0-1 in WAC play. CBU falls to 5-2-2 overall and 2-1-0 in WAC play.

“We thought we outplayed them from minute one to minute 90 and the possession at halftime was 75 percent to 25 percent in our favor,” said Utah Valley head coach Chris Lemay. “Give them credit for hitting a couple of really nice bombs in counterattack moments but at the end of the day we were quite pleased with how we played from the beginning to the end. As soon as our first goal hit the back of the net the momentum changed, and we were relentless in our pursuit to get a win tonight.

California Baptist took an early 1-0 lead as Lourdes Bosch stole the ball away from a UVU defender and immediately sent a shot into the net from about 25 yards out in the fourth minute.

The Lancers scored again in the 25th minute after Makayla Soll headed a pass forward to Kaylee Hauk who then lofted a shot into the goal from long range to give CBU a 2-0 advantage. CBU’s Hauck scored again with her left foot from 20 yards out to give the Lancers a 3-0 lead in the 53rd minute.

UVU then got things going in the 59th minute as Isabella Stewart sent a ball to the top of the box to Heather Stainbrook. Stainbrook then sent it over to Webber on the right side of the box where she fired a shot towards the far post and into the back of the net to cut the CBU lead to a 3-1 advantage.

In the 69th minute, Hannah Lee dribbled down the right side of the field and sent a ball to Julianna Carter on the right side. Carter then poked it towards the top of box where Webber fired a shot that made it past the CBU keeper on the left side to make the score 3-2.

Just over a minute later Lee dribbled the ball down the middle of the field and sent a ball forward that was sent right back to her at the top of the box. Lee immediately struck the ball into the net to tie the game, 3-3.

Carter sent a ball to Stainbrook on the right side in the 84th minute. Stainbrook then made a move around a CBU defender and sent the ball into the middle of the box where Webber shot it into the goal to give the Wolverines their first lead of the game, 4-3. The goal gave Webber a hat trick–the first hat trick since Sadie Brockbank scored four goals in 2018.

“We never stopped believing in us,” said Webber. “Playing in front of the home crowd after playing such a long stretch of road games and having such a large home crowd and playing front of our fans was amazing.”

Utah Valley outshot California Baptist 28-8, including a 19-4 edge in shots on frame. The Wolverines forced CBU keeper Noa Schumacher into 15 saves, which are the most saves ever recorded in a single game in CBU history. Webber led UVU with a match-high 11 shots, including nine on frame. Stainbrook and Lee each had five shots. UVU had eight corner kicks while holding the Lancers without a corner kick.

Idalia Serrano played the first half in goal for UVU, while Hailey Hillock played the second half in the box with one save. The UVU defense helped the Wolverines maintain possession for nearly 60 percent of the match.

Utah Valley traveled to Phoenix, Arizona to take on Grand Canyon on Sunday night at GCU Stadium at 8 p.m. MT.

Kemboi sets meet record

Everlyn Kemboi set a new meet record to win the 48th annual Paul Short Run on Friday morning while leading No. 16 Utah Valley University to a fifth-place finish in the team standings. The Wolverine men came in 15th and were led by Joel Mendez, who finished 37th, at Lehigh University’s Goodman Campus Cross Country Course.

Kemboi won the race and set the meet record with a personal best time of 19:33.0 in the 416-runner field in the Women’s Gold 6K. It marks her second win in the first three meets of the season after her victory at the UVU Invitational on Sept. 1. She also posted a third-place finish at last week’s Cowboy Jamboree.

“Eva coming here and breaking the all-time record on this course with all the teams that have been here over the year is pretty impressive,” said UVU head coach Scott Houle.

Mazzie Melaney Preston finished in 50th with a time of 20:25.6 with Hannah Branch (57th 20:29.7), Madison Flippence (61st, 20:30.9), and Maggie Zwahlen (68th, 20:33.6) all coming in just behind her to round out the team scoring. The top eight Wolverine women all established new personal best times in the 6k including Agnieszka Lubowska, who knocked over two minutes and 23 seconds off her previous best, finishing 144th in a time of 21:11.5. Nine women and seven men all recorded new personal record times on Friday.

“What a great race she (Lubowska) had. She was sick all last year and is really starting to get her legs back under her, so I’m really excited for her,” Houle said. “This was an impressive atmosphere to be in here and for the most part we ran pretty well. I think we were a little bit flat coming off the big meet and quick turnaround from last week. All-in-all to be able to beat some teams that allow us to get some more points helps our case when it comes down to the selection committee.”

Mendez ran the Men’s Gold 8k in 23:32.4 and was one of seven Utah Valley men to set new personal records. Max Mahon was next in 58th, with a time of 23:42.8. Austin Hone (100th, 24:03.0), Habtamu Cheney (125th, 24:15.1), and Adam Bunker (136th, 24:20.6) rounded out the scorers on the men’s side.

“Joel is continuing to do a great job for us. I think he’s rounding himself into a pretty solid runner and is leading the pack right now. As a team on the men’s side, I think they ran really well and are starting to move in the right direction and gain more confidence,” said Houle.

The team will run closer to home next weekend, at the SUU Color Country Invitational in Cedar City, Utah on Saturday, Oct. 8. Another big national race will follow that, on Oct. 14, at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison.

Wolverine women’s volleyball loses heartbreaker to Sam Houston

Sam Houston State University defeated Utah Valley University 3-2 (25-21, 25-15,26-24,26-24,19-17) on Saturday inside the Lockhart Arena. The five-set thriller saw 44 ties and 17 lead changes.

Sam Houston (5-13, 2-2) held off UVU’s (7-7, 2-1) late rally. The Bearkats were led by Madison Dyer and Catherine Krieger, each with 15 kills. The Wolverines had three players in double digits with kills, as Kazna Tanuvasa had 17, Avery Shewell had 16, and Tori Dorius added 14.

The fifth set with back and forth before Sam Houston took an 8-6 lead at the media timeout. The Bearkats looked to pull away at 11-8 in the final set to 15. The Wolverines came back to tie the set at 11-11 after a 3-0 run with kills from Dorius and Abbie Miller before a Sam Houston attack error. The two teams traded match points before Sam Houston found a kill and a UVU error to take the fifth set 19-17 to win the match.

Utah Valley stays at home for a match against Chicago State on Oct. 6 for a 6 p.m. contest inside the Lockhart Arena before playing one match on the road at Seattle U for a 3 p.m. match on Oct. 8. The Wolverines will return home the following week for a pair of matches against UT Arlington and Stephen F. Austin.

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