After the best season in school history, the Idaho Women’s soccer team is hoping to do even better this fall as they seek their first conference championship. The Vandals’ journey starts with a pair of home games against Seattle University and the University of Washington.
Seattle U and Washington both won over 10 games last season and will be a tough test for the Vandals to open the 2023 season. The Vandals then head to the desert to face Utah Tech and UNLV on their first road trip of the season.
After the trip to the desert, the Vandals will head back up to the Kibbie Dome to face the University of Nevada, a school they defeated 1-0 last season. The Vandals then end non-conference play on a three-game road trip where they will face CSUN, UCSB and UTEP.
The Vandals begin conference play at home against Weber State on Sept. 20. Idaho then travels to Pocatello to face in-state rival Idaho State. The Bengals will look to take a win in the Battle of the Domes series while the Vandals hope to defeat the Bengals for a second year in a row.
After a quick trip to the dome down south, the Vandals head back to Kibbie to host their Big Sky Conference tournament semifinal opponent, the Montana Grizzlies. The Vandals picked up a pair of 1-0 victories over the Grizzlies last season.
With a quick trip home in the rearview, the Vandals go on another three-game road trip, this time facing Portland State, Sacramento State and Eastern Washington. The Vandals will look to get some revenge on Sacramento State after a last-second goal gave the Vandals their only home loss of the season.
Idaho ends the season with two home games against Northern Colorado and defending Big Sky champion Northern Arizona. Northern Arizona was the only team to beat the Vandals twice last season. The Lumberjacks defeated the Vandals in Flagstaff, Arizona during the regular season, then won on penalties in the Big Sky Championship game to end the year.
After the almost three-month long regular season comes to a close, the Vandals will then have a 10-day break before the Big Sky Championships in Flagstaff. The Vandals return 10 starters from last year’s second place team, including key players striker Maddy Lasher, midfielders Jayd Sprague and Margo Schoesler and goalkeeper Kira Witte.
The multiple road games and difficult non-conference games will help the Vandals prepare for the grueling conference schedule. Doing well in these challenging games could help vault them into the position to compete for a Big Sky Championship.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JaydenBarfuss10