Despite a closely contested game on the field, that competition didn’t translate onto the scoreboard on Friday as the Eastern Washington Eagles (2-1) beat the Vandals 4-0 at Guy Wicks Field.
The Vandals were outshot 14-11 overall and 9-6 on goal — the raw numbers would suggest a much closer game than the scoreboard indicated. But EWU was the better team and deserved to win more than the Vandals, Idaho coach Derek Pittman said.
“The bottom line is Eastern Washington wanted to win the game more than we did. A lot of our players really need to look at themselves in the mirror and decide do they want to bleed for the Vandals,” Idaho coach Derek Pittman said.
The Vandals had numerous opportunities to potentially tie the game or even take the lead in the first-half. Sophomore Alyssa Lloyd had the first of her two shots on goal sail just over the net. The game was scoreless at the time. Freshman Chloe Bell, and junior JP Burgess also had opportunities to convert shots into scores but were slightly off the mark.
“We got into good areas to possibly score goals, but we have got to be more composed in or around the box to hit the target and not settle for a shot from 30 yards away and at a bad angle,” Pittman said.
Both teams had plenty of potential scoring opportunities that were swallowed up by the Palouse winds.
Eastern sophomore Ua Ruedy had an opportunity early in the first half when the Eastern attack caught Idaho’s sophomore goalie Torrell Stewart out of position only to send her kick just wide. Sophomore Paige Gallaway also missed a shot late in the second half by mere inches.
Stewart did not have a great day. In total, the sophomore took four of the Eagles’ nine shots on goal. Shortly after this fourth goal Pittman then decided to make a change in net as he pulled Stewart for freshmen Kimberly Gerken in the 70th minute.
“Kimberly deserved the chance, she’s had a good last couple of weeks of practice — Torrell didn’t have a good game in my opinion so she deserved a chance to go out and put herself in there,” Pittman said.
Gerken was tested almost immediately by the Eastern attack but was able to corral the save.
“Unfortunately we didn’t put forth our best performance today, but we will get back to work tomorrow, dust ourselves off and get ready to play Gonzaga on Sunday,” Pittman said.
Joshua Gamez can be reached at [email protected]