The University of Idaho’s athletics kicked off its weekend of Homecoming competition with a win as the soccer team beat New Mexico State 3-2 on Friday at Guy Wicks Field.
“The girls worked their socks off today and deserved everything they got,” Idaho coach Pete Schowler said.
The teams came off the opening kick off strong putting early pressure on the goalkeepers.
“Both teams were knocking the ball around, it could have gone either way. We stepped up and did what we need to do,” Showler said.
Idaho nearly started off with the lead after a shot from junior defender Emily Ngan from inside the box. The shot was right on target but a diving save by New Mexico State goalkeeper Jessica Schutter kept the score even.
Idaho missed another shot on goal five minutes later that again was saved by Schutter sending the ball out of bounds prompting an Idaho corner kick.
The ensuing corner kick put the ball right in front of the New Mexico State goal where senior defender Nitalia Zuniga was able to make contact passing the ball to senior midfielder Breanna Wilson to score the first Idaho goal at the 20-minute mark.
“Its all about who steps up to the ball, I was able to get a touch and (Wilson) was able to follow through,” Zuniga said.
New Mexico State quickly responded in the 25th minute with a goal of its own. New Mexico State’s Jennae Cambra took a shot from 20 yards out putting the ball in the top corner right out of Idaho goalkeeper Torell Stewart’s reach.
With ten minutes left in the first half, the Vandals again found themselves in a scoring situation. Off of a pass from Zuniga — getting her second assist of the night — Ngan got a touch on the ball to score the second Vandal goal. The Vandals went into halftime up by one.
After the half, the Vandals came off the opening kickoff strong putting solid pressure on the New Mexico defense for the first six minutes. But at the 51-minute mark, New Mexico’s Layla Todd put a shot across the goal putting the ball in the lower left corner to tie up the match.
The battle continued with not much headway for either side until the 63rd minute when Idaho’s Elexis Schlossarek scored the farthest goal of the match on a 30-yard shot off of the top crossbar and into the goal. Zuniga was credited with the assist giving her three for the match.
“I have shot from that location before. When it went top bar down I thought ‘that has to go in’ and it did,” Schlossarek said.
In the last 30 seconds of the match, New Mexico State tried to put the pressure on Idaho by pulling their goalie in an unsuccessful attempt to tie the game.
The Vandals are now 2-0 in WAC play and 2-7 on the season.
Curtis Ginnetti can be reached at [email protected]