Silence fell over the P1FCU Kibbie Dome as graduate outside Alyssa Peters stood over a free kick with the assist record at her feet. Peters, just one assist shy of the program record for assists, put her hand up in the air, approached the ball, and sent in a cross to the box.
Sophomore midfielder Sara Rodgers beat her defender marking her, rose above everyone, and headed the ball across goal and into the bottom corner to give the Vandals a 2-0 lead and Peters her program record 23rd career assist.
“It’s really exciting,” Peters said. “Getting to do that at home is even better. I love setting up my teammates and serving those balls in, and people always get on the end of them. It’s awesome, especially to get to (do) that in front of the fans, family and my teammates.”
Rodgers, who received the Peters assist, logged her second career goal in a black and gold uniform.
“At practice, I always have a strong work ethic for corners and heading goals, and I feel like that’s what I was trying to do on that one,” Rodgers said. “I tried to beat my player and get open, and I headed the ball, hoping it would go in. I looked back, and it was in the back of the net. It was the best feeling ever.”
Peters added another assist seven minutes later to put the game away. In the 73rd minute, to lead the Vandals to a dominating 3-0 win over Portland State and move them to 2-0 in conference play.
In the 73rd minute, Portland State fouled Idaho in front of their bench. Peters sent in a ball similar to her previous one, which ended in a similar result. Sophomore KV Miller, this time, was on the receiving end of the ball, and she made no mistake as she laid out and calmly headed home the Vandals’ third goal of the game and Peters’s second assist of the game and her 24th for her career.
The spectacular second half by the Vandals was unlike the sloppy and even first half put on by both teams. The Vikings came out and for most of the first half they wanted to make the game physical, fouling the Vandals six times and kept the Vandals scoreless and from taking as many shots as possible and opportunities at goal.
Finally, the Vandals created some magic to open the scoring. In the 33rd minute, a recycled ball found the feet of senior center back Cassidy Elicker. Elicker sent the ball into the 18-yard box, and after a deflection off a Viking defender, the ball fell to graduate midfielder Hannah Alfaro-Black, who beautifully chipped the goalkeeper, sending the ball over her head and into the net, which gave the Vandals the lead heading into halftime.
The Vandal defense in the second half was much sharper and shut down the Vikings, who only allowed four shots. Behind the two mesmerizing Peter’s assists and lockdown defense, the Vandals were able to extend their win streak to three games and get to 8-3-1 (2-0).
Head Coach Jeremy Clevenger was happy to see Peters, who has been a huge part of the Vandals’ success, get her reward.
“She does so much. She’s so smart, and she reads the game very well. She’s the leading assister (as) an outside back (that), which shows you how impactful she is,” Clevenger said.
The Vandals enjoyed four straight home games, going 3-0-1 in those games. Now, they hit the road for a critical road stretch in their season.
Starting with a trip just over the state line in Cheney, Washington to face the 6-4-2, (1-0-1) Eastern Washington Eagles, on Sunday Oct. 6 at 1 p.m.
“I told the team we took care of business at home, but now we have to take care of business on the road,” Clevenger said. “We got three straight road games with some good opponents; we’re going to have to be sharp and take care of business.”
You can reach Jayden Barfuss at [email protected]