The Idaho Vandals women’s soccer team held strong against Washington State, but a last-minute goal by sophomore defender Peyton Price gave the Cougars a 1-0 victory over the Vandals
Despite the loss, Head Coach Jeremy Clevenger was overall pleased with his team’s performance.
“Yeah, I mean, we got to be happy with that performance. The first 30 minutes, we were the better team. Overall, it was an impressive night for us for our first scrimmage,” he said.
The Vandals, under the bright lights of the P1FCU Kibbie Dome, opened their spring season behind a mixture of starters and reserves on the field.
First-game jitters grabbed hold of the Vandals in the beginning, but the team settled down midway through the first half. Idaho began connecting some passes and expanding possession time, putting pressure on WSU.
After the first of three 30-minute periods, the game was tied at 0-0. WSU responded to a poor first period with a better second period. The Cougars boasted three shots, two on goal and showed off their physicality and decisive play. They were close to a breakthrough when the horn sounded at the end of the second period.
In an unconventional third period, both teams came out swinging for the knockout punch and WSU landed it in the 83rd minute. WSU won a corner from the right corner flag.
WSU played the corner into the penalty box; it bounced around in the box before WSU’s Price poked it just past UI sophomore goalkeeper Kira Witte and opened the scoring. The Vandals, down 1-0, tried to press and pushed the tempo; however, the Vandals struggled in the final period all night, which did not change in the last eight minutes. WSU held off the Vandals and squeezed out a 1-0 victory.
Clevenger acknowledged some areas Idaho needs to work on before their scrimmage next Saturday.
“I think we want to clean up some marking in the box. We want a little more comfort when we’re getting pressed,” he said. “We created many chances tonight, and we couldn’t put them away. We want to work on that too. That’s just a part of growing in the spring.”
The Vandal’s struggles in the final third were imminent, and Clevenger talked about the struggles offensively throughout the game.
“We know that the offense is sometimes missing the last piece, especially when you’re working on some other pieces, and that will come,” he said. “We got into good spaces, and we created plenty of opportunities. The execution will come in the end.”
A few stepped up in a night meant for the young players, including freshman Leslie Duarte, Izzy Thoma and Sara Rodgers. Sophomore Kate Sprink was solid all night for the Vandals on the backline.
Duarte and Rodgers were key players in the midfield, alongside junior midfielder Annika Farley. Rodgers, who had the task of replacing former midfielder Jayd Sprague, played the entire 90 minutes.
Clevenger was pleased with their performance.
“Kate and Izzy are new outside backs and going against the very talented frontline for Washington State. We wanted to test them, and they did great. I thought they came up big with a lot of great moments,” he said. “Also, Leslie did a great job in possession in the midfield and creating opportunities. We wanted to see the growth, and they definitely did that tonight.”
Filling the role of a Big Sky first-team all-conference player is no easy task, and Rodgers stepped up to the plate in her first game inholding that midfield role.
“I thought tonight Sara was great. She played the whole game. You can see her composure on the ball, very clean on the ball, made crucial tackles when she needed to. She just did the job that we wanted in that spot,” he said.
The Vandals will look to rebound from this loss next Saturday, April 13, when they take on Central Washington University at 1 p.m. in the Kibbie Dome.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected]