EL PASO, Texas ? The Vandal soccer team got off to a hot start and put the pressure on the UTEP Miners early, but couldn't maintain the lead and fell 4-1 in the opening game of the UTEP Border Shootout on Friday at El Paso, Texas.
“We destroyed this team in the first half,” Head coach Pete Showler said. “We had so much possession and played such good soccer.
“We played the best soccer we've played all season so far. We absolutely dominated possession and scored a great goal.”
Aimee Goss got the Vandals on the board just 6:55 into the contest as she knocked in a Melissa Canite cross to give her the first goal of her Vandal career. Canite earned her first career assist.
The Vandal offense bothered UTEP for much of the first period and got off nine shots with five on goal. At the same time, the Vandal defense kept an efficient UTEP offense, which had scored 19 goals in its first six games, to just five shots and one goal in the first half. The UTEP team, which Showler said has been so successful because of "clinical finishing," wasn't able to get anything going against the Vandal 'D' in the first half.
“The soccer in the first half was fantastic,” Showler said. “The possession play and the passing was tremendous. Mel laid a great cross in with some fantastic build-up play.”
While the Vandals started the game running, they did just the opposite to start off the second and gave up a quick pair of goals just 14 minutes in. What had started as a 1-1 tie through 45 minutes quickly became a 3-1 hole that the Idaho women couldn't dig out of.
“It was great to watch,” Showler said. “Absolutely fantastic, but I just can't put my finger on what happened in the second half.
“In the second half, we laid the proverbial egg. We had the game in the palm of our hands and we stopped playing. It was seriously disappointing.”
The loss drops the Vandal women to 3-3 on the season and drops the team out of a winning record for the first time this season. Prior to this season, the team hadn't had a winning record since starting the 2003 season 1-0-2.
While Showler was upset that the team didn't put the game away when they had the chances, he's still excited about what the Vandal women showed during the game.
“We've proven today that we can play very well against a good opponent, but now we've got to prove that we can do it for 90 minutes, not just 45,” Showler said.
“We had opportunities, we just didn't take them quick enough,” Showler said. “Now we've just got to pick ourselves up and say, ?Hey, let's get it done on Sunday.'”
The competition won't get any easier for Idaho on Sunday as the team finishes off the UTEP Border Shootout with North Dakota State, which enters the game with 5-2 record on the year. The game will kick off at 10 a.m. PST.
