MOSCOW, Idaho - The University of Idaho women's soccer team (2-10-0, 0-4-0) suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat at the hands of conference foe UC Irvine Friday at Guy Wicks Field.
The Vandals fell behind 1-0 early in the match when UC Irvine scored in the 22nd minute. Idaho was overmatched by the Anteaters in the first half and was outshot 11-5.
After halftime, Idaho came out firing on all cylinders, managing eight shots in the first 22 minutes. In the 70th minute of the game, UC Irvine was awarded a penalty kick that looked to take the wind out of Idaho's sails. The kick was blocked, however, by Lindsay Smith and Idaho stayed behind by only one goal.
"When someone makes a huge play like that it is huge for our momentum," head coach Arby Busey said. "It's just as good as scoring a goal. Lindsay really bailed us out with that save and it really allowed us to get our momentum going again."
The momentum was shut down temporarily when a lapse in the Idaho defense in the 73rd minute translated into a UC Irvine score and a two-goal deficit for the Vandals. Idaho was able to respond four minutes later, however, when Eija Hodgin served a direct kick that was headed into the goal by Sarah April for her first goal of the season. Three minutes later, the Vandals struck again, this time on a penalty kick by Melissa Martinazzi. Martinazzi's first goal of the season brought the game to a 2-2 tie with only seven minutes remaining.
A controversial event took place after the Idaho goal. The Vandals attempted to make a substitution and felt their player was not in position before the Anteaters brought the ball into play. The result was a UC Irvine game-winning goal just 15 seconds later.
"We can't control that situation and we have to be able to play through it," Busey said. "That play did ultimately did not decide the game. We created chances in the second half and played with a lot of energy, but we need to get better at putting those chances away. We also need to do better on the defensive end to nullify the chances our opponents get."
The Vandals ultimately took the edge in shots by a 16-15 margin. The two goals scored by the Vandals were the most in a game since a 2-1 victory over Idaho State on Sept. 17; a span of six games.
"At halftime we talked about changing the way we wanted to play. We needed to be more aggressive and be better at attacking. We pushed our backline up a bit higher and took away some of the space we were giving to Irvine and that helped our attacking ability quite a bit. This team really responded and played a great second half," Busey said.
Idaho continues to hunt for its first conference win of 2004 when it takes on Long Beach State Sunday. The game begins at 11 a.m. and will be played at Guy Wicks Field.
