Idaho and regional-rival Eastern Washington went head-to-head in the semifinal round of the Big Sky Championships Friday in Cheney.
No. 1 seed Idaho fell to the No. 5 Eagles 1-0.
It was a battle through the end of the game, with both teams scoreless.
Eastern Washington scored the only point in the 88th minute of play.
Idaho was unable to even the score.
Senior forward Kavita Battan, junior forward Olivia Baggerly, senior defender Madison Moore and senior midfielder Clara Gomez took one shot each.
Idaho head coach Derek Pittman was proud of his team regardless of the results.
“I thought our players played with a lot of heart and played with the execution we needed them to,” Pittman said in a news release. “We lacked a bit of urgency in front of goal, but that had a lot to do with how well Eastern defended. We know every time we match up with Eastern that it’s an absolute battle and it’s a war and it was exactly that today.”
Idaho won the repeated as the Big Sky regular season title with seven wins in conference play. This season was the fourth time in program history Idaho won over 10 games overall.
The Vandals graduate nine seniors.
Senior midfielder Elexis Schlossarek was the only Vandal named to the all-tournament team. Eastern’s Chloe Williams was the tournament MVP.
Sacramento State head coach Randy Dedini was named the 2016 Big Sky Conference soccer coach of the year. Votes were gathered from league coaches.
Eastern Washington took on No. 3 Northern Arizona Sunday. The teams battled into overtime with a 1-1 tie.
The Eagles play No. 2 seed USC in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]