As the Idaho Vandals closed out their conference play against the North Dakota State Bison, they did it without a huge part of their team.
Junior Forward Maddie Lasher, leading goal scorer and assist leader, was out Friday with an injury she suffered last week against UCSB. Despite not having Lasher, Idaho fought hard and ended with a 0-0 tie to NDSU.
The Vandals got off to a hot start, outshooting the Bison five to one in the first 25 minutes of the first half. However, they fell off massively and at the end of the half, ending the first with the shot count tied at six.
In the first half, 10 minutes in, junior midfielder, Margo Schoesler was injured and had to come off. This really put the Vandals behind as two of their best players were now out with injuries.
The second half was a wide-open game with both teams trying to crack each other. The Vandals outshot the Bison seven to four in the second half. Idaho had 13 shots and ten on goal. North Dakota State’s junior Goalkeeper Abby Wilkinson had a staggering 10 saves to keep the Vandals scoreless.
This game was a hard-fought, physical contest with each team committing a lot of fouls. Idaho committed nine and the Bison had seven. Playing this game without Maddie Lasher really hurt them. Not having a goal scorer that can hold up play, draw attention and change a game with one touch of the ball hurts a team’s style of play, and it hurt the Vandals last night. They battled; out possessing. out shooting and making the Bison work, but in the end, they did not get the result they hoped for. They’ll go into conference play with a 5-1-2 record at the top of the Big Sky.
The Vandals are on the road to open their conference slate with a game against 1-7 Weber State on Sept. 22 at 6 p.m.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Jayden_10