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 Vandal sophomore midfielder, Melissa Canite, is chased by teammates during soccer practice on Sep 4 at Guy Wicks Field. File Photo
When coaches stress the importance of playing the complete 90 minutes in a soccer match it’s because of eventful overtime games like the Idaho soccer team played this weekend against Niagara University.
On Friday, the Vandal soccer team stepped up the offensive game as they fired 28 shots against Niagara in Las Vegas.
Niagara (5-1-1) is ranked 11th in the Northeast region for women’s soccer, making this match the second consecutive match the Vandals took a ranked team into overtime.
After taking just 26 shots and scoring two goals in their past three games combined, the Vandals (1-5-1) went off on Friday with 28 shots, 17 of them on goal, and scored a pair in the 2-2 tie.
“We dominated the game, but we just didn’t finish off our chances,” Idaho coach Pete Showler said. “We hit the post three times. I told the girls to gamble a bit today, but we just didn’t get the rub of the green.”
Seven different Idaho players had at least three shots on goal giving Idaho the most shots during a match since setting the school record in 2000 against Portland State with 36.
Sophomore Jenna Hull scored one goal herself and assisted the second goal. Senior Nicole McAllister had the second goal of the game, helping her lead the Vandals with her third goal this season. Ashley Perez earned her second career assist and fired three shots of her own during the match.
“It’s fantastic that the shots were coming from all areas of the field,” Showler said. “We’ve been working on that in practice, but now we just have to work on being a little more clinical in the final third and turning those opportunities into goals.”
After playing a scoreless 60 minutes total, Niagara struck in the 59th minute to make the score 1-0. Hull immediately answered back 7 minutes later with the assist from Perez at 66:11. Hull sent a pass 5 minutes later to an open McAllister, who finished the goal to put Idaho up 2-1 at 71:57. When the Vandals thought they might have had a chance to finish off the game with a 2-1 victory, Niagara scored 30 seconds later tie it back up at 2-2 at the 72:29 mark.
“All the things are starting to come together and we’re playing better in every game. I know that the girls really want to turn that into wins now. They’re playing with a lot more confidence and it’s showing in their play.”
In a period of 13 minutes the game turned into a battle of who wanted to win more, but as quickly as the game began it ended. Idaho took four more shots in the second half, then out-fired Niagara 8-2 in the two
overtime periods.
Niagara goalkeeper Ashleigh Bowers earned recognition as she picked up 15 saves and allowed two goals in 110 minutes. Idaho goalkeeper Anna Sandman made her second start of the season and allowed two goals with four saves in
110 minutes.
“We know what we’ve been doing well defensively and we knew we had some things to work on in the attacking side,” Showler said. “It was an improvement, but we’ve got to get better still.”
Idaho will meet Eastern Washington on the pitch later this week.
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