The Idaho women’s soccer spring season has officially come to an end after the Vandals played the North Idaho College Cardinals and the annual UI Alumni Game.
Leslie Kiebert | Argonaut
Sophomore midfielder Taylor Brust kicks the ball during the Alumni Scrimmage in the Kibbie Dome Sunday.
The Vandals played their last actual match of the spring, showing off how they have improved and refined their skills.
When the match kicked off, Idaho got off to a rocky start but was able to settle in and get to work. The defense made a couple errors, but was able to recover well to not allow any open shots on goal, suffocating the NIC offense all game long.
The Idaho offense was clicking on all cylinders, with efficient passing and dribbling skills to move the ball into NIC’s defensive third. As the game went on, the Vandals put more pressure on the Cardinals and found the back of the net, with goals from sophomores Juliana Detar, Morgan Crosby and Kayla Watanabe and freshman Kaysie Bruce, winning the match by a score of 4-0.
“In the first 10 minutes, we just had to get the gitters out. Then I thought we settled in and played exactly the way that we want to,” Idaho Head Coach Derek Pittman said. “We met all of our objectives today and thought we played with a high level of consistency that I expect from us during this point in the spring.”
Next up was the annual alumni game, where the current team played a team of former alumni in a 60-minute match.
“It was a blast. It’s always nice to have our former players come back from various years and be able to visit with them and just see where they are in their lives,” Pittman said.
The game started off as a standard 11 vs. 11 format for the first half. The alumni put some fear into the current team, coming out strong, going down the field and getting a corner kick within the first couple minutes and having the first shot on goal. Much like the NIC game though, after the first 10 minutes though, the current team settled in and scored four first half goals. During the second half, the alumni team started to add more players, eventually having the full 15 on the field. But even with that many players on the field, the current team scored again in the final five minutes, leading to the final score of a 5-0 win.
“[The alumni] are all moving on with their lives and doing their own things, so it’s great to be able to reconnect with them in some ways and visit with them,” Pittman said.
The Vandals will move on to summer training in preparation for the Big Sky season this coming fall.
Zack Kellogg can be reached at [email protected]