Vandals finish up nonconference schedule in Arizona
After a tough 1-0 loss to Washington State on Sunday, the Vandals now prepare for the final weekend of nonconference games as they head to Arizona for two games with Grand Canyon and Arizona, respectively.
The team may have had their best performance of the year in the loss to WSU, but that hasn’t changed the way the team goes into each game.
“The vibe with the team has been very good throughout the entire season,” Idaho coach Derek Pittman said. “Obviously we have gone through some ups and downs, but it hasn’t changed our team’s chemistry or player’s mentality in training. It just gave us a confidence moving forward that what we’ve been working on is now proving beneficial.”
The team is still focused on winning its first game, but it’s also focused on the process that goes into winning, Pittman said. Prior to Sunday they hadn’t put together a complete performance, but they did so against WSU, he said.
“I think we have definitely improved a lot, it is definitely grasping concepts,” sophomore goalkeeper Torell Stewart said “I think we have improved so much but we can always improve more. We just want to play to our highest intensity and play all out and support one another. I think that is our main goal.”
Pittman said it is always nice to play some different teams, one of which is another Pac-12 opponent. Idaho also plays Grand Canyon, who was in the WAC with Idaho last year, so the team should be somewhat familiar with them.
One difference between this weekend and most other weekends is that the team will not be practicing in Moscow the day before the game like it has all year. Instead the Vandals will be getting their work in at Grand Canyon on Thursday afternoon, Pittman said.
With it being hot in Moscow this week, the team shouldn’t be too unfamiliar with the Arizona climate, which should be beneficial, Pittman said.
This trip provides the team an opportunity to spend some extra time together while on the road, but the trip does not change the way the team prepares for the game, Stewart said.
The team did a good job at forcing turnovers against WSU, but couldn’t turn them into scoring opportunities. The Vandals did that a few times against the Cougars, but they need to be more consistent, Pittman said.
“We are going to keep doing what we are doing and do what we did against WSU and hopefully even better,” he said. “The defensive side of things has drastically improved over the last few weeks, we showed that on Sunday. Now we need the attacking side to improve.”
Trips like this could also help build the program going forward and helps add recruiting ties, he said.
“We always want try to and make at least one out of region trip per nonconference portion,” Pittman said. “We have got other trips scheduled in the future to get us out of this region because we recruit out of this region. We do everything we can to find players that can help move Idaho soccer forward and in the right direction.”
Joshua Gamez can be reached at [email protected]