As the final whistle blew after 90 minutes in Seattle, the Idaho Vandals walked off the field with a 4-0 defeat to the Washington Huskies in what proved to be a tale of two halves.
The storyline was written in the stars when Deanna Montero transferred from Washington to Idaho last spring, setting up her return to the campus where she spent her first two years.
Instead, the redshirt sophomore midfielder could only watch helplessly from the sidelines, sidelined by an injury suffered during the Vandals’ Thursday win over UC Riverside. What was meant to be a marquee homecoming became a painful reminder of soccer’s cruel timing.
The Vandals came out ready to play and started the game sharp, with crisp passing, fluid movement, and consistent pressure in the opening 20 minutes before the Huskies found their breakthrough.
In the 20th minute, junior midfielder Samiah Shell stepped in front of a pass and raced toward the goal. Shell unleashed a beautiful shot from beyond the 18-yard box that kissed off the post before beating redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Paula Flores, opening the scoring for Washington.
Despite conceding the goal, the Vandals maintained their pressure and were able to test the Huskies’ goalkeeper with three shots on target, keeping themselves in a competitive position heading into halftime. When the second half kicked off, the Huskies sensed an opportunity and struck again within ten minutes.
In the 53rd minute, junior midfielder Jadyn Holdenried received the ball and drove toward goal. She executed an inside-out move to beat the Idaho defender and create space, then unleashed a rocket off her left foot that found the bottom right corner, beating an outstretched Flores to double the Huskies’ lead.
The Huskies added two more goals to put the game away with another strike by Hall to complete her brace and an insurance goal by senior forward Avery Nguyen. The victory gave Washington their first win of the season, moving them to 1-0-1.
The Vandals fall to 1-1-0 with the defeat and will look for answers as they head east for their upcoming road trip. Idaho will travel to Massachusetts to take on the 1-1 University of Massachusetts, Lowell River Hawks on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 4:15 p.m.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected].