Coming off a grueling double overtime 2-2 tie with Southern Utah on Friday night, Idaho remained undefeated in Big Sky play as the team held off Northern Arizona 2-1 on Sunday.
“It feels extremely good to come off a tough Friday night game and come out to put in a repeat performance,” Pittman said. “Any win is important in our conference, and to protect our home field and get another win under our belt and move up in the standings is fantastic.”Idaho coach Derek Pittman stressed all 22 players were vital to the team’s success, especially in situations like the Vandals found themselves in on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, Idaho (3-9-1 overall, 3-0-1 Big Sky) takes sole possession of second place in the Big Sky.
The Vandals are now set to take on conference leading Montana (8-5, 4-0) on Friday in an early battle for first place.
After NAU took a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute, freshmen defender Olivia Baggerly scored her second goal of the season to tie the game up. Then, less than two minutes later, sophomore midfielder Gabby Leong gave Idaho the lead with an athletic play near the net. It was her second goal of the season.
“Right after the goal we said ‘let’s refocus and push the reset button’ then we went out there and scored again,” Leong said of the goals. “It was a great team effort.”
The Vandals did what they set out to do in making Northern Arizona, a team predicted to finish in the top three or four in the conference, uncomfortable on both ends of the field. That is a major reason why the Vandals were able to remain without a loss in the Big Sky, Pittman said.
“We continue to do the things we are good at. We defend well from an organizational standpoint, we attack very well with relentless mentality and attitude to earn as many chances as we can,” Pittman said. “As long as we do those things we put ourselves in a good position to win.”
It was vital to grind out the win after the double overtime game on Friday, Leong said. The team is riding a high and they need to keep that going, she said.
“They are going to be fresh and we are probably going to be a step slower than we would like to be,” he said. “But our players fought — they continued to grind … I am very proud of what our players were able to do on the field today.”Pittman said Sundays are always a grind since Idaho is usually playing its second game of the weekend and often the other team is coming in with some rest.
Although the Vandals are sitting well in the standings after two weeks of conference play, they are not crowning themselves yet.
“Our goal is to make the conference tournament,” Pittman said. “We take it one game at a time, this just helps us move a step closer. We still have six games left in the conference and now we will get prepared for Montana coming up on Friday night.”