After fluctuating between the first and second spot in the conference, all Idaho had left to do before solidifying the number two seed in the Big Sky Tournament was beat Eastern Washington.
The Vandals came into the game 10-3-2 overall and 5-2 in conference, losing two of the last three. The Eagles came into the game 5-7-5 overall and 2-2-3 in conference.
As senior day began, the Vandals were on the front foot early, really attacking to get the first goal. They succeeded in the fourth minute as junior defender Alyssa Peters placed a perfect ball into the six-yard box before graduate senior Savanah Foster put her head on it to get it past the hands of the Eastern goalkeeper and give Idaho the 1-0 lead.
The lead would not last long as four minutes later Eastern drove down the field to allow junior forward Maddie Morgan to hit a shot that went off the crossbar. Sophomore Elisabeth Cole followed it in with a header to the bottom corner to tie the game.
The Vandals dominated the rest of the first half as they outshot the Eagles 11-5. Seven of those resulted in corner kicks, leading to five saves by the Eastern Washington goalkeeper. Freshman goalkeeper Kira Witte made two saves as the score remained 1-1 at halftime.
Coming out of the locker room was the same story. Idaho dominated Eastern in possession, attacks and pretty much everything else. The Eagles were setting up for the go-ahead goal, but they couldn’t get anything as a mistake landed the ball at the feet of junior midfielder Margo Schoelser. Schoelser laid it back to Peters, Peters kicked the ball up towards junior forward Jadyn Hanks, then Hanks placed the ball into the net and put the Vandals up 2-1.
Continued pressure from the Vandals led them to outshoot the Eagles 14-4 in the second half. The Vandals had a total of 25 shots, eight of them were on goal and two of them went into the net. Idaho held on to the 2-1 lead to get their eleventh victory of the season and clinch the number two seed in the Big Sky tournament. The win also gives them a bye in the first round, placing them in the semifinals against the winner of Montana and Portland State.
Some milestones were met on Sunday as Savannah Foster scored her eleventh goal of her career; she has four this season the eleven goals move her into a tie for tenth spot on the Vandals career mark. Alyssa Peters, with her two assists, moves to five assists on the season. She is one assist away from moving into the top 10 in Vandal history for assists.
With the win today, the Vandals tied for third in school history for single season wins, matching the 2000 team. Now, the Vandals have a week off before they head off to Greely, Colorado, for the Big Sky tournament. They need just two more wins for a conference championship for the first time since 2016.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JaydenBarfuss10