This weekend will mark the final time the Kibbie Dome will host Idaho soccer in 2019.
The Vandals (3-10-2, BSC 0-3-2) are still looking for their first conference win of the season.
“Our goal is to continue to win,” said head coach Jeremy Clevenger. “Our season has been up and down, I think its been a rough one. But this weekend is another weekend where we are going to try and get better.”
Final farewell magic: There seems to be something special when it comes to senior night on the Palouse.
“I think senior weekend is always a weekend of celebration, a weekend of honoring the players who’ve given so much to our program,” Clevenger said. “It
goes by quick. Before you know it, you’re done and I know things haven’t gone the way we wanted for those seniors, but at the end
of the day, they’ve been a great group and hopefully we send them out this weekend the right way.”
The Vandals will be honoring the four graduating seniors before Sunday’s game against Southern Utah: goalkeeper Julia Byerlein, defender Natalie Fischer, midfielder Morgan Crosby and forward Juliana deTar.
For retrospect, former coach Derek Pittman did not lose a senior night game during his four-year tenure with the team, with the last time being under Peter Showler.
Late season adjustment:
Last weekend in Ogden and Pocatello, Byerlein made her first start of 2019.
Despite splitting the weekend with a win and loss, she was able to have 13 saves against Weber State, the first time a keeper had a game with 10 or more saves since Torell Stewart in 2014.
This was also the most since 2011 by Liz Boyden, who had 14 against UC Santa Barbara.
After her best performance of her career, Byerlein will now look to step up in the final games in the Kibbie Dome this season.
“(Byerlein) has always been the heart of the team,” Clevenger said. “Even last year – (Byerlein) sat behind (Makayla Presgrave), but she was still a leader and a lot of the players looked to her as a leader regardless. It takes a special person to not be on the field but still be a leader.”
Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks (6-6-2, BSC 2-2-1) are now coming off their first win since opening weekend of the conference season, shutting out Northern Colorado 2-0.
“(NAU) is a very direct team,” Clevenger said. “We just have to be organized, know where those long balls are coming from, we have to be good at winning those first and second balls. If we do that, we are going to create opportunities.”
Northern Arizona is led by sophomore Madison Montgomery and junior Paige Maling, who have a combined 11 of the team’s 19 goals this season.
In the Big Sky, the Lumberjacks have just six goals with six players, but are outshooting opponents with shots on goal, 40-19 — more than double.
Idaho hasn’t picked up a win against NAU since 2015.
Southern Utah: Now on the backend of the season, the Thunderbirds (0-12-1, BSC 0-4-1) are the bottom ranked team in the Big Sky and are still looking for their first win of the season.
Southern Utah has had a tough go offensively and defensively, but when looking at the conference schedule, will still give Idaho headaches come Sunday.
With five goals this conference season, they have scored one more than Idaho.
The leading scorer for SUU, MaKenzie Lawrence, has three goals and an assist, with a shot on goal percent of 72.7%, just
slightly behind sophomore Maddie Haas and Crosby, who both have 75%.
When shots do fly Sunday, expect the keepers to have to step up big.
Idaho will host Northern Arizona 7 p.m. Friday and Southern Utah noon Sunday.
For a look at the seniors’ whose careers are coming to end, head to Vandal Nation for the Sunday morning feature.
Zack Kellogg can be reached at [email protected]