The Idaho Vandals women’s soccer team just finished their spring season with an overall record of 2-3. They opened the spring with a tight 1-0 loss to Washington State, where they were unlucky in the end as the Cougars scored a late goal to defeat the Vandals.
The Vandals bounced back when they hosted Central Washington and dominated them the whole game and got the result, defeating the Wildcats 3-0 behind goals from junior forward Sienna Gonzalez, sophomore Karli Yoshida Williams, and early enrollee Delaney Barbee.
The Vandals then headed up to Seattle, where they split the weekend. The Vandals defeated Seattle Pacific University 3-0 and lost to the University of Washington 3-1, the same result as in the fall.
Idaho then finished their spring campaign with a 3-2 loss to Gonzaga. The Vandals grew a lot during the spring and had many young players step up in positions of need—most notably the outside backs, midfielders and goalkeeper.
Two players, sophomore Kate Sprink and Izzy Thoma, stepped up and showed potential to be the next starting outside back on the Vandal backline.
“Izzy and Kate have done an amazing job all spring,” Head Coach Jeremy Clevenger said. “So, we’re excited about those two kind of battling and finding their way into a starting role.”
Another position of need was holding midfielder after former midfielder Jayd Sprague transferred to the University of Oregon. Freshman Sara Rodgers has stepped up. Rodgers started in all five spring games and scored two goals for the Vandals.
“Sarah has been great. You can see her composure on the ball, she’s very clean on the ball, she made crucial tackles when she needed to, she just did the job—that’s what we want in that spot,” Clevenger said.
Now that spring is over, the Vandals will have some time to recover before they go home, do some summer conditioning, and head back here in July, ready to start the 2024-2025 season.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected]