The Idaho women’s soccer team continued its spring season by travelling to Portland Sunday to compete against Concordia and Seattle University.
The Vandals defeated Concordia 1-0 following a goal in the second half from junior midfielder Elexis Scholssarek with an assist from midfielder Clara Gomez.
Gomez slipped the ball past midfield, while Scholssarek got behind the backline to go against the goaltender one-on-one to score Idaho’s lone goal of the day.
Idaho head coach Derek Pittman said the team did well in its first spring win..
“Overall it was a really good day for the team,” Pittman said. “Concordia is a very good program and I thought our team came out very organized and sharp. We had a couple of chances early on but it wasn’t until about midway through the second half that we broke through.”
The Vandals dealt with fatigue during the second game of the doubleheader, as Seattle U scored with less than a minute to go in the second half to move ahead of Idaho.
The Vandals had several opportunities to score in the second half, but could not convert on any shots. The Redhawks scored again in the final five minutes of play to seal the 2-0 win.
Pittman said he was proud of the way the team competed, despite consecutive games.
“It can be difficult when you’re down but I thought our kids kept fighting,” Pittman said. “They did a good job at competing all the way to the very end.”
Pittman said the Redhawks possessed more energy because the team had to play one game during the afternoon, compared to two for Idaho.
“There was a little bit of tired legs in our second game,” Pittman said. “We made a couple of mistakes on the goals, but overall it was a pretty even match. We just didn’t score our chances and they scored theirs.”
Pittman said playing two games in one day can be grueling, but it’s also part of spring season. He said his goal was to get as many players on the field as possible, to provide his roster with valuable experience.
“We used our entire roster Sunday,” Pittman said. “So everyone played anywhere from 60 to about 110 minutes. We had some people on the field that maybe normally haven’t been playing to get some experience. But we also have some players that have played a lot of minutes and were definitely having some tired legs.”
Pittman said the team has made noticeable progress this spring.
“We did some good things defensively and created some great opportunities on the attack,” he said. “But we just need to be better at finishing on those opportunities that we have to score.”
Pittman said the focus of the spring is to develop the program and prepare the players for the upcoming fall.
“The encouraging thing about developing our players is that we’re creating opportunities,” the Idaho head coach said. “We just need to be better going at it and putting those chances away but it’s important for their growth to play more minutes and continue to get better.”
Luis Torres can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @TheLTFiles