PULLMAN, Wash. ? The Idaho women's soccer team played a gritty match with Washington State, but early Cougar goals proved to be the difference in a 2-0 loss at Pullman, Wash., on Sunday afternoon.

Idaho (1-8-1) gave up “two sloppy goals,” according to head coach Pete Showler, in the first 29 minutes, but regrouped and held WSU (5-2-3) at bay for the remainder of the match, but couldn't find the net themselves.

WSU went up 1-0 early at the 8:38 mark when a free kick by Jacquelyn Roth settled into a mass of players at the front of the Idaho goal. In the ensuing fray, WSU's Elysse Van Leer tapped in a shot from five yards out to put Idaho in a hole right off the bat.

The Vandals maintained some possession and saw some solid scoring opportunities early on, but at the 29:45 mark, WSU went up 2-0 after nifty passes from Kiersten Dallstream and Elysse Van Leer left Carly Dobratz open in front of the Vandal goal.

“You can't give them the time and space to play there,” Showler said. “Two sloppy goals were the key to the game. It took our confidence away and that's just not good enough for us.”

Idaho came out gunning in the second half and created more offensive pressure, but couldn't capitalize on any scoring opportunities. The Vandals ended up taking 13 shots to WSU's 16, but the shots-on-goal margin was just 7-6 in favor of WSU. Idaho also had seven corner kicks?all in the second half?to WSU's four.

For Idaho, it was another set of lapses that allowed a game to slip away. The team played solid soccer for long stretches of time, but occasional little mistakes saw scoring opportunities unravel and gave WSU looks.

Showler said he had one main theme for the team's upcoming week of practice: consistency.

“I've got to challenge them to be consistent,” Showler said. “No matter what level of team you're playing against. Consistency is what's going to win you games.

“I was much happier with that second half, but when you're two goals down, that's a mountain to climb against a team of this quality.”

Idaho's next stop on the eight-game road trip is Orem, Utah, for a match against Utah Valley University on Friday, Oct. 3, then to Missoula, Mont., on Sunday, Oct. 5 to cap off the non-conference slate against Montana.