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 Forward Jennifer Hull kicks the ball out of Vandal territory after stopping a Nevada offensive during an Oct. 26, 2007 soccer game. File Photo
Overtime losses appear to be a downfall for the University of Idaho women’s soccer team this season.
With three overtime losses and one overtime tie, the Vandal women are going above and beyond the regular 90-minute games to try and beat their opponents. However, even with all the extra effort, the Vandal women have been coming up short in every overtime match thus far.
“Our mentality has to be far tougher at this level for us to be successful,” Idaho coach Pete Showler said. “It’s really a mentality that, ‘I’m going to work harder than the next team to make sure we get it done.’ Right now, other teams have that mentality and we don’t.”
This last weekend was a busy weekend for the Vandals as they traveled to Orem, UTtah to take on Utah Valley University. UVU is new to the Division I level this season. After 103 minutes of play, the Vandals lost in a 2-1 match against UVU.
“For the second time, we don’t step out and play hard in the first half and then in the second half step up and outplay them,” Showler said.
UVU scored the first goal of the match 35 minutes in. Sophomore Jenna Hull scored the equalizing goal with eight minutes left in regulation on a corner kick placed directly in front of the net from Senior Nicole McAllister.
“It was a great goal under pressure,” Showler said. “She turned and volleyed it right into the top of the net.”
The Vandals’ non-conference schedule ended with another loss Friday with a match against University of Montana in Missoula.
The Vandals have slipped to 1-10-1 on the year, while Montana moved to 3-7-1.
“Probably our worst performance of the season and this is not the time to be doing it, leading into the conference season,” Showler said. “Some players stepped up as usual and some players just had off days and there were just too many off days.”
The two teams played a scoreless first half, but Montana quickly changed that in the second half, as Anna Pingree knocked in a loose ball three minutes into the half. Montana’s Kaityln Heinsohn added the final goal with less than a minute to go, sealing the win for the Grizzlies.
With all the non-conference games behind them this fall, the Vandal women are going to team up and make some suitable changes in practice in order to start winning games.
“The girls have to get refocused and commit to winning games,” Showler said. “Attitude and mentality has got to be positive going into games with the attitude that we can win, and then we have to transfer that into the game itself.”
The Western Athletic Conference Games will begin with their road trip to Logan to play Utah State on Friday.
On Sunday, the Vandals will have their first home game in nearly a month against Louisiana Tech.
“The team without a doubt has the ability, we’ve just got to translate it into performance and results and have everyone do it at the same time consistently,” Showler said.
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