Overtime woes continue

Vandals fall 3-2 in double overtime to Weber State

Homecoming Weekend got off to a bumpy start for Idaho athletics as the Vandal soccer team lost a heartbreaker to Weber State Friday afternoon 3-2 in double overtime.

The overtime loss was the Vandals’ fourth overtime game of the year. They are winless in all four (0-3-1).

“Bottom line is it wasn’t our best performance,” Idaho coach Derek Pittman said. “Credit to Weber State they were able to come in here and keep possession of the ball and make us defend more than some teams have.”

The Vandals still sit at second in the Big Sky and will host Idaho State in the home finale on Sunday at 1 p.m at Guy Wicks Field.

“Idaho State brings their own set of problems,” Pittman said. “It is about us, it is about what we do and we have to do the things that we are good at and today we didn’t … And a team like Weber State, or anybody in our conference could punish us for it.”

The Wildcats took the lead in the 18th minute when senior midfielder Mackenzie Peck fired a ball at the top of the net, just too high for the outstretched arm of Idaho sophomore goal keeper Torell Stewart.

Despite the sluggish performance, the team showed some resilience in overcoming two separate deficits and numerous good shots by the Weber State attack, Pittman said.

After freshman forward Olivia Baggerly and sophomore forward Kavita Battan connected for the equalizing goal late in the first half, Peck gave the Wildcats another lead before Baggerly assisted again on a goal as she drew the goal keeper away from the net and junior forward Reagan Quigley was able to score her first career goal late in regulation.

“In all honesty, we had a chance to win it in the first overtime and we should’ve put a couple of those chances away but we didn’t,” Pittman said.

The Vandals outshot the Wildcats 14-9, with Quigley and Battan leading the team with three shots each. Baggerly, sophomore midfielder Elexis Schlossarek, freshman forward Josilyn Daggs, sophomore midfielder Alyssa Lloyd and freshman midfielder Chloe Bell all took shots for the Vandals.

The game shows how deep the Big Sky is, as Weber State was in eighth place in the standings before this game.

“There is no real separation from the top team to the bottom,” Pittman said. “Any result can come out if you don’t put out max effort and today our players’ unfortunately didn’t put out their max effort and we got punished for it.”

Despite the impressive turnaround Pittman said the team must stay focused on the regular season, if they don’t it could be all for nothing.

“Our players need to do a better job making sure that we do take it one game at a time,” Pittman said. “We haven’t accomplished anything yet … It is great that we have had the turnaround that we have had over the last seven games but at the end of the day it can be taken away at any time.”

Josh Gamez can be reached at [email protected]

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