The Idaho Vandals’ Women’s soccer team had one of their most successful seasons in program history last year. They finished 12-3-3 in the regular season to earn the second seed in the Big Sky tournament.
After a first-round bye, the Vandals took on the Montana Grizzlies. The Vandals won and moved on to face Northern Arizona in the championship. After 90 minutes, the game went to penalty kicks. Idaho fell 4-3 and NAU took both the crown, and the reward of hosting the 2023 Big Sky championships.
The Vandals are just hours away from their first exhibition game of the 2023 season where they will host Trinity Western University out of British Columbia, Canada. The Vandals will then head to Eugene, Oregon to face the University of Oregon before their season opener against Seattle University on August 17th.
Idaho has a very experienced team coming back as they return 10 of 11 starters from last year’s team. The lone non-returner is former midfielder Savannah Foster, who had four goals, three assists and started all 18 games for the Vandals last season.
Despite the loss of Foster, the Vandals have some loaded talent coming back. Senior forward Maddy Lasher finished the year with four goals and four assists to lead the team with 12 points on the season.
Senior midfielder Margo Schoesler finished last season with three goals and one assist. All three of her goals were game winners, including one in the semifinals against Montana.
Junior Jayd Sprague did not show up on the stat sheet much, finishing with two goals and one assist. However, she was one of the most important players for the Vandals through her defensive work and fundamentals. Sprague will need to be even more impactful with the loss of Foster.
Sophomore goalkeeper Kira Witte has been a gem for the Vandals. Witte finished the season with the most shutouts in the Big Sky and led the country in shutouts for almost the entire season. She ended with 13 shutouts, 70 saves and won 12 out of 18 games as a true freshman. Witte will look to improve with the help of new goalkeeper coach Neal Ozmun.
One of the biggest issues the Vandals had last season was finishing. They only had 22 goals in 18 games. All spring, Coach Clevenger and the Vandals worked hard to finish and put balls into the back of the net.
The Vandals will have eight non-conference games to warm up before conference play, including a game against the University of Washington on August 20th.
Idaho will end non-conference play in El Paso, Texas against UTEP before returning to the Palouse to host conference opener against Weber State. The Vandals defeated the Wildcats 1-0 in Ogden last season.
Idaho will then travel to Pocatello for the Battle of the Domes. They’ll stay in the state for one game as they host Montana. After UM, they’ll go on a three-game road trip.
They’ll return home to end the regular season with a home stand of Northern Colorado. After taking on the Golden Bears, the Vandals will look to get some revenge as they face NAU on senior day.
The 2023 season promises to be exciting as the Vandals take on big names both on the road and at home. Their first true home game is against Seattle University on Aug. 17 at 6 p.m.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JaydenBarfuss10