Sand, sun and soccer — that was the recipe for success to get the Idaho Vandals soccer team out of their two-match losing stretch this weekend. Instead that stretch turned into a skid as Idaho lost both matches by a combined score of 9-0.
Playing only their second time in team history east of the Mississippi River, Idaho opened up the weekend with a 3-0 loss to Miami on Friday, and followed up that performance on Sunday with a 6-0 loss to Florida International.
In the weekend opener, the Vandals held the Hurricanes scoreless in the first 45 minutes, but two quick strikes in the first five minutes of the second half courtesy of Amy Schmidt and Kate Howarth gave the Hurricanes a lead the Vandals couldn’t rebound from.
“If we compete like we did in the first half of the Miami match against other teams, we will be fine and dandy this season,” Idaho coach Pete Showler said. “Then it was just a few lapses in judgment or loss of focus and it turned into the 3-0 score line.”
The final goal of the match came off the foot of Ashley Finn in the 87th minute. Finn registered three of the Hurricanes nine shots on goal, while the Vandals as a whole were only able to get two shots on frame, both from senior midfielder Megan Lopez.
“I was very proud of them, because 45 minutes in, our intensity matched theirs,” Showler said. “We were fortunate not to be down a couple goals early on, but we got back up, dusted ourselves off and went right back at them.”
Sunday the Vandals faced a FIU Panthers side who had played to a nil-nil draw Friday at LSU.
FIU came out firing at the Vandals, drawing first blood in the 37th minute via Chelsea Leiva — her first of three goals in the match. Two more goals in the final 10 minutes of the half sank Idaho.
“I thought we came out bright in the first half and then we miss an open goal and it all turned around in their favor,” Showler said. “We can’t give good teams like that those kind of chances.”
Idaho was able to muster up six shots on goal to FIU’s 10, but six saves from FIU keeper Kaitlyn Savage was enough to keep Idaho off the scoreboard.
The Panthers struck three more times in the second half, capped off by Leiva’s third score in the 84th minute.
“Our first half performance definitely deserved for us to be down two or three at the break, but a 6-0 defeat is a little rough for how we played,” Showler said. “I hope the team finds their identity soon, because that’s what we’re lacking at times and there’s a lot of season left for us.”
Idaho will finish up their road swing with a match at 4 p.m. Friday against Eastern Washington in Cheney before returning home at noon Sunday to take on Palouse rival Washington State at Guy Wicks Field.
Madison McCord can be reached at [email protected]