The Idaho Vandals Women’s soccer defense of their Big Sky championship had finally begun, and after two completely different games played, the Vandals split their opening weekend games.
On Thursday, the Vandals defeated the University of California Northridge 3-0. Today, they fell 3-1 to Seattle University, bringing their record to 1-1-0 after the opening weekend of the 2024 season.
UC Riverside
As the Bright lights of California shined down, the Vandals looked to get off to a positive start in the 2024 season. Idaho traveled to Riverside and got after them early.
In the 13th minute, the Vandals struck first with a goal by senior midfielder Annika Farley, her first on the season, assisted by graduate forward Maddy Lasher. The Vandals went into the halftime break with a 1-0 lead and looked to expand on it.
The Vandals did not have to wait long to expand their lead. In the 54th minute, graduate forward Jadyn Hanks put the Vandals up 2-0 with an assist by junior outside back Kate Sprink. Spink connected again with another Vandals forward, redshirt junior Sienna Gonzales.
In the 77th minute, the two connected, and Gonzales’s goal secured the Vandals a 3-0 lead in the game and their first victory of the 2024 season. Sprink ended the game with two assists, and three different Vandals scored their first goals of the new season.
Seattle University
Coming off Thursday’s victory over Riverside, the Vandals traveled to Seattle to take on Seattle University. The Redhawks, coming off a 1-0 defeat to the University of Oregon on Thursday, looked to respond against the Vandals.
The Vandals wanted to keep the momentum of their win on Thursday going; however, they got themselves down early. In the third minute, the Redhawks were on the attack, and a ball was played down the right sideline to graduate forward Hallie Bergford; Bergford sent in a looping cross that caught the Vandal’s defense by surprise.
The cross found the outstretched foot of junior midfielder U’I Kaaihue, who put the ball into the net to open the scoring for Seattle and get their first goal of the 2024 season.
The early goal woke the Vandals up and started gaining momentum. With their quick 1-2 passing and quick movements, the Vandals created a few great opportunities, but the Redhawks’ physicality and great defensive work kept the game at 1-0 at the halftime whistle.
The Redhawks outshot the Vandals 5-4; however, the Vandals had two shots on goal, and Seattle had just one.
The second half began, and a switch turned for the Redhawks. They began to press and be much more aggressive. The Vandals struggled and were on their heels at the beginning of the half.
The Vandals maintained composure throughout the opening moments and finally got a chance to equalize. In the 65th minute, sophomore Tori Peters picked the ball up around 30 yards from goal. Peters laid the ball wide to junior forward Karli Yoshida-Williams, who flew up the left wing.
Yoshida-Williams cut back on her right foot, sent the ball into the box where Gonzales outjumped everyone, and placed it into the net to give the Vandals the equalizer they needed. Gonzales got her second goal of the season in two games.
The tie score did not last long, however. In the 75th minute, the Vandals defended a corner, and the ball came off a defender’s hand. The referee awarded a penalty kick; Graduate forward Brooke Wilson stepped up and drilled the ball into the bottom left corner to give the RedHawks the lead back with 15 minutes left to play.
Around 20 seconds later, the Redhawks had another corner and another defensive lapse by the Vandals, and the Redhawks made them pay.
Senior midfielder Jourdyn Curran sent the ball in from the left corner, where the head of junior midfielder Bella Bonnett was found. She hit a powerful header past redshirt freshman goalkeeper Paula Flores, giving the Redhawks separation.
The Vandals had a couple of late chances by graduate midfielder Hannah Alfaro-Black, but nothing troubled the Redhawks, who got their first win of 2024 with a convincing 3-1 victory.
The Vandals will look to rebound as they head back to California to face California State University Northridge on Thursday, Aug. 22, at noon.