As the Vandals looked for their eighth and ninth victories, they would have to travel to Montana and Northern Colorado. They went and conquered both games 1-0, pushing their record to 9-1-2 and posting their ninth and tenth shutouts of the season.
Montana
As the Montana Grizzlies came into this game 4-5-3, they were going to be challenging with their speed, strength and height. Playing in Montana gave the Griz an edge to start the game. However, the Vandals came to prove that this team is no fluke.
Both teams struggled to find their footing in the first half. There were a lot of bad passes, turnovers and fouls. The Vandals committed eight fouls, the Griz committed six. The Griz really got the better of the Vandals in the first half, posting six more shots than the Vandals and outshooting them 9-3. However, of those nine shots, only one was on target and the score remained 0-0 going into halftime.
The Vandals came out of the locker room, and put the pressure on, outshooting the Grizzlies 9-4. Montana was a lot more frustrated this half as they committed some careless fouls, one of which was extremely costly. Fifth year senior McKenzie Kilpatrick made a slide tackle and fouled freshman forward Karli Yoshida-Williams in the box to set up a penalty in the 88th minute. Junior midfielder Margo Schoesler stepped up and drilled the penalty in the top left corner, giving the Vandals the 1-0 win to go 3-0 in conference.
Northern Colorado
Coming off a thrilling victory in Missoula, Montana, the Vandals had to travel to Greely, Colorado to take on the Northern Colorado Bears.
The defending Big Sky Conference champions came into the game 4-6-3 overall and 0-2 in conference. The Vandals came in 8-1-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play.
The Vandals pressured the Bears from the time the ball kicked off. Their efforts paid off in the 23rd minute when junior midfielder Savannah Foster found Schoesler at the top of the box, but her shot hit the right post. Sophomore midfielder Annika Farley followed it in and sliced it past the goalkeeper into the left corner to open the scoring at 1-0.
The Vandals’ defense showed out after that as they allowed 15 shots, but only three were on target. All three were saved by freshman goalkeeper Kira Witte as she got her 10th straight, and 11th overall, shutout. She is now tied for third on the Idaho career shutout list, and the most shutouts in a season in the Big Sky Conference. The Vandals record now sits at 9-1-2 overall and 4-0 in conference. The Vandals will finish their road trip on Sunday at noon against Northern Arizona University.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JaydenBarfuss10