90 minutes can feel like an eternity. For the Idaho Vandals women’s soccer team, it was the final 90 minutes of the regular season. For five seniors, it was their last game lacing up their cleats and taking the field in their black and gold jerseys with the crowd roaring in the P1FCU.
The desperate, last-placed Northern Arizona Lumberjacks spoiled the Vandals’ fairytale ending with a dominant 3-0 win, handing Idaho their second conference loss.
The Vandals celebrated five seniors: forwards Naomi Alvarez and Karli Yoshida-Williams, midfielders Annika Farley and Deanna Montero and defender Heather Squitieri. All five players have their own stories and styles, but what they share is the impact they had both between the white lines and off the field.
“They’ve been amazing,” head coach Jeremy Clevenger said. “A couple transfers in there in Heather and Deanna. Obviously, the core has been Naomi, Karli and Annika. They have meant so much on the field, they have been so impactful. I told them before the game that they were impactful off the field as much as on the field. It’s a wonderful group.”
Three of the five seniors have been Vandals every year of their championship runs. Alvarez, who scored the game winner in the 2023 championship game to send them to the NCAA tournament, looked back at her time as a Vandal and playing at the Kibbie Dome.
“Off the field, I’ve literally met all of my best friends, it’s a family,” Alvarez said. “On and off the field, I know I have the girls for the rest of my life. Idaho is such a great community. I’ve met so many people, even outside of soccer, just through athletics.
It’s just such a great experience saying I’m an athlete here, and it’s just awesome meeting all the people, my amazing coaches that have helped me along the way, and just playing in the dome. There’s nothing better, just the most amazing feeling.”
After an emotionally charged draw Friday night against Northern Colorado, redshirt goalkeeper Paula Flores lit a fire into her team with a fiery team talk to get them ready for the Lumberjacks. The team responded with a good start, pressing for the opening goal.
However, the soccer gods were not on their side. In the 29th minute, a cross through a sea of black and white jerseys got past Flores and NAU had the 1-0 lead. Six minutes later, with the Vandals still reeling, the electric NAU attack worked around for a beautiful team goal.
After a turnover from the Vandals, senior forward Katie Willoughby turned away from her defender and played the ball into the path of senior forward Avery Ott, who unleashed a rocket that headed straight for the bottom corner to give the Lumberjacks the 2-0 lead.
The Vandals, now needing goals, went on the attack and found some good looks and opportunities but once again struggled to put the ball in the back of the net.
The Lumberjacks sat back and defended most of the second half before taking their opportunity to seal the Vandals’ fate. Northern Arizona won a corner deep in their attacking third. Sophomore forward Valarie Llamas won the ball, beat her defender and fired a left-footed beauty off the post to give the Lumberjacks the 3-0 lead and the victory.
Idaho fought till the very end, but the Lumberjacks, who were hungry for a Big Sky tournament berth, clinched the final seed in the tournament.
“This was a match where they took care of their opportunities, and we didn’t,” Clevenger said. “I think we created a lot of scoring opportunities. They defended really well, some stuff that we haven’t seen on film, it made it hard on us. They deserve a lot of credit. They were fighting for a playoff berth, and I think they just wanted it a little bit more than we did.”
With the loss, the Vandals were hoping that results fell their way, and they did. Idaho secured the fifth seed in the Big Sky tournament, a feeling that Flores was excited and relieved for. She has a quiet confidence in this team’s ability to compete for a championship.
“Now I know we made it. After the game, at least for me, I didn’t know if we made it because I thought it was lose and go home,” Flores said. “Now that we made it, it gives us a spark of hope. We’re going to learn from these past three games and just go from there and apply every single detail into the tournament. We’ve made the championship the last three years; I think we’re making it this year again.”
The last two games have been a struggle for the Vandals’ back line, giving up five goals. A normally stingy back line has been exposed at times over the past games. Flores and freshman defender Miranda Goldner expressed some frustration in the play of the back line recently.
“I think it’s a matter of communication,” Goldner said. “We’ve been three on three a couple times this game and last game, three quarters where we need to have high communication and there’s going to sometimes be a free defender. You have to go in 100%. That’s one thing I don’t do personally at times. I think it’s communication on wanting to step so we don’t lose our marks and stay with them.”
This Idaho Vandal team is electric and fundamentally sound. Their 5-5-8 (2-2-4) record might not show it, but this group has a lot of experience in big games. Most importantly, they have each other’s backs and are a tight-knit group even when the results aren’t going their way. They now begin the whole goal of the regular season: the chance to compete for hardware and a trip to the NCAA tournament.
The Vandals will take on fourth-seed Portland State Vikings on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 1 p.m. for a chance to take on the hosts and number one seed Montana in the semifinals.
“It’s great to have a bunch of starters that have been to the Big Sky tournament before,” Alvarez said. “We know how it is, anything can happen in these games. We’re confident in each other and ourselves, and we know that we can do it if we just work hard with each other.”