The Vandal soccer team lost two of their tightest contested matches of the year, losing 2-1 against the Eastern Washington Eagles on Friday and 1-0 against the UNLV Rebels on Sunday.
Steven Devine | Argonaut
Midfielder Katie Baran passes the ball through heavy defense during Friday’s game against Eastern Washington. The Vandals came up short with a 2-1 loss and will face Grand Canyon 1 p.m. on Sunday at Guy Wicks Field.
Against Eastern Washington, the Vandals matched the Eagles and forced Eagle goalkeeper Nathalie Schwery to make six saves. The Vandals were able to match the Eagles shot for shot – both teams totaling 14 shots. But a quick goal in the second minute of the match and another in the 70th minute off of a defensive collision allowed the Eagles the window they needed to clinch the match in the Vandals’ home opener.
“When you give a team two goals, you make hard work for yourself,” Idaho coach Pete Showler said. “We gifted them two goals and that means it’s hard work from then on. Once we got the goal back, we had more energy but it was too little too late.”
The Vandals were able to find a stride that has not been previously seen by the team, moving the ball with ease down the pitch and putting constant pressure on their opponents. This is something Showler said his team has been working on. On Wednesday, Showler told his team that there is no shame in getting taken out of a game in which you have given 100 percent and helped the team. This advice showed this weekend.
Along with working on the on-field work ethic, the team has been working on their offensive movement down the pitch.
“We had been working on going in the middle out wide and back in. It was working pretty well today, but unfortunately we weren’t able to score off of it,” junior Katie Baran said after Friday’s game.
Sunday’s game started much better for the Vandals. They did not allow any goals during regular play and controlled the tempo for the majority of the match. The teams were matched through the first half as the Rebels totaled four shots to the Vandals three. The rest of the game played out the same as the Vandals took the fight to the Rebels. The end of the second half saw the Vandals putting high pressure on the goalkeeper and getting closer to scoring than any other point in the match.
The 90 minutes of regulation saw no goals on either side. The Vandals and Rebels held each other to a scoreless match until the 109th minute — only one minute away from a tie game — when Rebel Kristin Sankey put one in the back of the net off of the top post on a free kick from 35 yards out.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the girls, they put everything out on the pitch,” Showler said. “We could have easily won that game three nothing, they didn’t deserve to lose that game. This is the end of one season and the next starts tomorrow.”
WAC play will start 1 p.m. on Sunday as the Vandals take on Grand Canyon State at Guy Wicks Field.
Curtis Ginnetti can be reached at [email protected]