After Idaho’s victory over Portland State to regain first place in the conference, the Vandals took on mid-table Sacamento State.
Sacramento state came in with a record of 3-8-4 overall and 3-2-1 in conference while Idaho was 10-2-2 overall and 4-2 in conference. The Vandals were sluggish and didn’t look ready to play as Sacamento state dominated possession, which forced Idaho to chase the ball.
The Vandals started to pick it up in the sixteenth minute when junior right back Allysa Peters sent in a beautiful cross from 25 yards out right to the head of graduate student midfielder Savannah Foster. Foster put the ball right into the bottom corner to open the scoring and put the Vandals up 1-0.
The first half ended 1-0 with the Vandals dominating and looking for a second goal, However, that did not happen, and the Vandals defense collapsed. The Hornets answered the Vandals in the 84th minute with a header that beat freshman keeper Kira Witte to tie the game up. Sacamento State scored again on a controversial no-call hand ball to put them up 2-1.
Sacamento State outplayed Idaho in the last 20 minutes to hand the Vandals their third loss in conference and second loss in the last three games.
The Vandals now drop to second place in the Big Sky. They will have to beat Eastern Washington next week, and hope Northern Arizona loses their final two games, if they want to get first place and the top seed in the Big Sky Tournament.
Idaho will be back at home on Oct. 23 against Eastern Washington at 1 p.m. to try and reclaim first place again.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JaydenBarfuss10
TAMI FOSTER
They have 2 losses in conference.