This weekend marked the start of the longest road-trip of the season for the Idaho soccer team. The Vandals play five games on the road before returning home for a match against Eastern Washington on Friday, Sept. 13.
Julie Hillebrant | Courtesy
Vandal goalkeeper, Marina Siegl, defends a shot from Idaho State Bengal foward Jessica Sanchez during Sunday’s game at Idaho State University. The Vandal lost 2-0.
The road to the first home match isn’t an easy one. The Vandals started by playing two matches of their five-game road trip this weekend.
They started their road trip Friday in Ogden, Utah, where they played Weber State. The game was supposed to start at 2 p.m. but was delayed 30 minutes due to a lightning storm. When the game started, it turned into a game that the Vandals soon wanted to forget.
Although Idaho came out more aggressive in the second half, it could not get any offensive momentum.
“Unfortunately for us, I think lightning struck more than once today,” Idaho coach Pete Showler said. “We knew we would take some lumps and bumps early on, playing some tough games and we found that out today. We will learn from our mistakes and move on to next game. We just need to take care of what we can control.”
Moving on from the performance, the second game was played on Sunday. The team traveled from Ogden up to Pocatello, Idaho, where they played the Idaho State Bengals.
Both teams came out aggressive, but Idaho State was the one to capitalize on the physical play. After scoring a goal near the 39th minute, the Bengals came back two minutes later and scored again by deflecting the ball off Vandal defender Amanda Pease.
After halftime, the physicality of play picked up with both teams hitting the double-digit mark in fouls. Three Idaho State players also were awarded yellow cards in the half. Despite the physical play, the Vandals couldn’t comeback from being down and lost 2-0.
Even with the loss, coach Showler saw big improvement from Friday.
“The difference between today’s game and Friday’s is night and day,” Showler said. “I mean, the girls stepped on the pitch and we executed how we needed to. It’s disappointing to lose two-nil and those two goals are ones we shouldn’t have given away. But we had six or seven freshmen out there at times. They are learning quickly and improving.”
Showler also said his team can improve going forward.
“If we take today, and look at how much we improved from Friday, the girls are getting used to playing with different personnel,” he said. “We keep taking big strides. If we can continue doing that till next Friday, we put ourselves in the frame to battle for a win.”
The Vandals continue their five-game road trip when they return to the pitch to face Washington State in Pullman on Friday, Aug. 30. Kick off is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Rick Clark can be reached at [email protected]