SPOKANE, Wash. ? Early in fall camp, Idaho head coach Pete Showler and the rest of the Vandal women's soccer team said that they could feel a difference in this year's squad. After the Vandals shut down Gonzaga and took home a 2-0 victory Friday afternoon, it might not just be a feeling.

A pair of true freshman scored for the Idaho women and the Vandal defense shut down an experienced Gonzaga squad to give the team its first victory in a season-opener since 2002.

After a first half that Showler said wasn't the team's best, Idaho came back in the second and took control.

“It was 0-0 at halftime and we weren't playing our best soccer,” Showler said. “I just told the girls at halftime that if we stepped it up, we could be right in this game.”

The team responded by coming out in the second and playing with much more energy and organization, needing just 10 minutes to get on the board.

A well-aimed corner kick by junior Britta Rustad set up a header from freshman Anna Edmonds to give the Vandals their first goal of the season. It took Idaho 20 minutes to get on the board again, as freshman Jennifer Hull took a pass from Hayley Henry and knocked a diagonal shot past the goaltender for her first career goal.

While the offense was impressive for the Vandals ? last year's team didn't score until the seventh game ? the defense may have been better. Led by goalkeeper Anna Sandman's 8 saves, Idaho's defense held a “bend but don't break” game, withstanding 19 Gonzaga shots to give the team its first shut out since a 2-0 victory at Louisiana Tech in 2005.

“The defense organizationally in the second half was absolutely tremendous,” Showler said. “The midfielders worked their socks off. It was just a great result.”

It was a game of firsts for the Vandal women. Both Edmonds and Hull scored their first career goals, with Edmonds' goal being her first career game-winner, and Sandman put together her first career shutout. Rustad tallied her third career assist, while Henry got her second and the first since her freshman year in 2005.

Showler believes this can be a good first step for the season and that the important thing now is to maintain the energy and excitement into next weekend's Governor's Cup tournament.

“Now that we've set the standard, we have to maintain that,” Showler said. “I told all the girls to remember how this feels, so we can feel it every week.”