After snapping a two-game losing streak last Sunday, the Idaho Vandals traveled north to Cheney, Wash., to take on the second-to-last team in the conference, Eastern Washington.
The Vandals displayed a furious second half comeback to clinch a spot in the 2023 Big Sky tournament.
The Vandals came into the game with a 7-4-2 record, and a 2-2-1 record in conference. The game kicked off, and the quality of the Vandals started to show. However, a counterattack by the Eagles opened the scoring.
Senior midfielder Madison Kem won the ball at midfield. The ball fell to senior midfielder Corina Froehle. Froehle played a ball just outside the six-yard box as sophomore goalkeeper Kira Witte rushed out to prevent the Eastern attack. Junior forward Gillian Martin scooped the ball over Witte and the Eagles captured the 1-0 lead.
The Vandals kept pushing and, 16 minutes later, thought they had the equalizer. Junior Annika Farley headed the ball past the goalkeeper, but the goal was called back because of a foul.
The Vandals kept the aggression up but were not able to get the ball in the back of the net, heading into halftime down 1-0. The first half was not short on shots as the Vandals had 11 shots, two shots on frame. Eastern had five shots and just the lone shot on goal for the half.
After the break, the Vandals stepped up their pressure and finally got the equalizer. Junior midfielder Jayd Sprague played a ball to outside back Makenzie Burks.
Burks played a ball to the six-yard box where it found senior forward Maddy Lasher who redirected the ball around the keeper and into the bottom left corner, tying the game at 1-1. The goal by Lasher was her first goal of the season.
Four minutes later, the Vandals had the lead. Senior midfielder Margo Schoesler picked the ball up on the left wing. She cut the ball back on her right foot and crossed the ball deep into the penalty box. The ball found the toe of Farley who powered it past the Eastern goalkeeper for her third goal of the season, giving the Vandals the 2-1 lead.
In the final 25 minutes, the Vandals battled with Eastern and held off the Eagles to pick up their third conference win of the season, clinching a spot in the Big Sky tournament. The Vandals ended the game with 20 shots, five of them on frame, whereas the Eagles had 10 shots and three of them on frame. With the win, the Vandals improved to 8-4-2, 3-2-1 in conference play, moving up to third place in the Big Sky.
Eastern, with the loss, drops to 2-12-1 and 1-4-1 in conference play heading into the final weekend of the regular season. After a three-game road trip, the Vandals will finally be back in the P1FCU Kibbie Dome on Friday at 6 p.m. to face last-place Northern Colorado.
The Vandals will look to extend their win streak to three games and head into senior day with some momentum.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on X @JaydenBarfuss10