The magical season for Idaho soccer ended in heartbreak Sunday afternoon when the team fell to Northern Colorado in penalty kicks during the Big Sky Tournament Championship.
After 90 minutes of regulation and two overtime periods resulted in a 1-1 draw, the Vandals and the Bears entered a tense series of penalty kicks to determine the Big Sky postseason title.
“Sometimes we play a cruel game,” Idaho coach Derek Pittman said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our players right now, and no one would have dreamed a season like this. I tip my cap to Northern Colorado. They’re a very good team and we were just a bit unlucky today.”
After an unbeaten run through Big Sky Conference play, the Vandals earned the right to host the conference postseason tournament at Guy Wicks Field for the first time in program history.
The top-seeded Vandals began play in the tournament Friday against No. 5 Montana, after the Grizzlies upset Weber State 2-0 in a snow-covered quarterfinal matchup the day before.
Idaho opened up the scoring in the fifth minute when freshman forward Kayla Watanabe received a cross from junior forward Kavita Battan and found the back of the net for the Vandals.
Idaho followed the goal with another just three minutes later. Sophomore forward Olivia Baggerly’s header on a throw from sophomore defender Josilyn Daggs pushed the Vandal lead to 2-0.
The team scored its third goal of the match minutes before the half, as freshman midfielder Megan Goo’s shot found the back of the net following a scrum inside the box.
“I definitely feel as though it gave us a bit of a confidence boost,” Battan said after Friday’s game. “But at the same time I think our team mindset was that we couldn’t let off the gas pedal.”
Montana adopted a more aggressive attack in the second half, which led to a Grizzly goal in the 49th minute to cut the deficit to 3-1.
For the next 30 minutes, the teams engaged in a standoff, with Idaho’s defense clearing multiple scoring attempts by the Grizzlies.
In the 88th minute, Montana’s offensive push netted a second goal for the Grizzlies. But the late-game efforts were not enough, as Idaho held on for the 3-2 victory.
“It was hectic at the end,”Battan said. “There are so many emotions going through your mind as you’re trying to defend and make sure that they don’t get another goal. You have to be able to stay composed on the field, and I think we did a good job of holding them off at the end during those last five minutes.”
The Vandals would also utilize early offense in the team’s championship match Sunday against Northern Colorado.
In the 12th minute of play, Baggerly stole the ball from Northern Colorado defenders deep in Bears territory and found Watanabe inside the box with a cross. Watanabe then deflected the pass to junior midfielder Elexis Schlossarek, who tapped the ball past the Bears goalkeeper.
Northern Colorado countered with a strong offensive push late in the first half, but the score remained 1-0 at the break.
The Bears evened the score in the 57th minute. Northern Colorado midfielder Mariel Gutierrez received a deep cross and punched it into the back of the net to tie the game 1-1.
The Vandals and the Bears traded scoring opportunities for the remainder of regulation, but neither team could convert. The two programs entered the first overtime period with physical play on both ends of the pitch.
The Vandals came close to scoring a sudden-death goal in the 95th minute, as junior defender Madison Moore rocketed a shot from outside the box. But the Northern Colorado goalkeeper made a diving save and punched the ball over the crossbar to keep the game knotted at 1-1.
After neither team converted in the second overtime, the match went to a penalty kick shootout.
The Vandals replaced Big Sky Goalkeeper of the Year Amanda Poertner with junior Torell Stewart for the penalty kicks series.
Pittman said he made the substitution because Poertner had been nursing an injury since the team’s regular-season finale against Eastern Washington. Pittman said the freshman had not been able to practice defending penalty kicks during the previous two weeks.
The Vandals did not convert on any of their penalty kick attempts, falling 3-0 in the fourth round to Northern Colorado.
“Just because we lost in penalty kicks doesn’t mean that we had a bad season by any means,” Pittman said. “I know for our players this definitely hurts and will hurt for a while, but we will do everything we can to use this as motivation to keep getting better.”
The Vandals finished the season with a 14-4-3 record. The team won the Big Sky regular-season championship after going unbeaten in conference play.
Northern Colorado advances to the 64-team NCAA College Cup, which begins play next weekend at unspecified locations throughout the country.
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GoshJrissom
George Gomez
The Lady Vandals should all be proud for having a extremely successful season. As the season started to develop and the team began to get a taste of success, it was contagious as everyone started to step up their game. A record breaking season it turned out to be at so many levels, team and individual, including the most wins ever in Conference play. Every single player should walk proud, head high and confident. Keep working hard and keep growing as individuals and as a team. Congratulations Lady Vandals!