PULLMAN, Wash. - Idaho's young women's soccer team followed a rough first half at #21 Washington State by tightening up the screws and playing tough ball for the second 45 minutes on Friday in the team's season opener.
The problem was that they gave up three first-half goals before they were able to adjust and fell by the final of 3-0.
The learning curve for the Idaho (0-1-0) women was steep, as the nationally-ranked Cougars (1-0-0) came out of the gates quickly and the young Vandal team, which featured seven true freshman in its starting lineup, were "shell-shocked" by the quickness and aggression from the WSU squad, according to head coach Pete Showler.
"We were pushed around and I think the girls were taken aback by the speed of play in the first, Showler said. "The response in the second half was just way, way better."
In the first half, Idaho gave the WSU offense too much room to work with, and the result was a quick goal in the 18th minute, then two more at 30:00 and 32:27 to put Idaho in a 3-0 hole at the half.
"You can't give them time and space at this level, and not against a team of this quality," Showler said.
Early in the second half, Idaho sophomore goalkeeper Liz Boyden set the tone for the remainder of the game as she stifled a penalty kick at the 46:33 mark and went on to make four more impressive stops in the period.
"With all their fans sitting behind me, I felt like I wanted to make a statement and I stopped it (the penalty kick) and started out the second half better than the first," Boyden said. "We had more organization in the second half and I think a bit of the nerves went away, but other than that, I think we wanted to show we weren't going to just go away."
Boyden, who led the Western Athletic Conference last season with 5.63 saves per game, finished the match with seven saves and three goals allowed in 90 minutes.
While the team didn't manage to post a goal, Showler said he was impressed with the way Idaho was able to work its way into the offensive third in the first half, but that it needed a bit more polish to connect with the net.
"The real positive is that in the first half, we created some opportunities," Showler said. "We got bodies in the box, but we just didn't execute. They (WSU) did a good job of getting in front of the ball, but we got some opportunities in the box and that's a big step forward."
For the game, Idaho was out-shot by a 21-4 margin, while WSU tallied 11 corner kicks to none for Idaho.
Next up for Idaho will be a quick road turnaround as the team heads west to take on Seattle University on Sunday at noon. The Redhawks took a tight 1-0 decision in Moscow last season at the Governor's Cup.
