MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Idaho Vandals (3-3-0) bounced back on Friday afternoon to defeat Arkansas State (2-5-0), 2-0, in Memphis. The Vandals picked up a pair of first half goals to secure the win.
“I'm really happy with how we defended and it's always great to get a shutout,” said head coach Derek Pittman. “We're really happy with the group. We challenged them before the game with how important it is to come on the road and get a result. Arkansas State posed a few problems for us with their shape and their formation, but we responded well.”
Alyssa Lloyd got the Vandals on the board in the 17th minute with her first goal of 2015. Madison Moore got the play started by finding Clara Gomez, who headed the ball over to Lloyd at the corner of the 6-yard box. Lloyd handled it well, with a neat volley into the back of the net.
Olivia Baggerly added to the Vandal lead in the 25th minute. Kavita Battan slipped in a pass to Baggerly who finished for her second goal of the season.
“We haven't been starting games as fast as we'd like to,” Pittman said. “We haven't been putting on the pressure that we'd like. But we started well today. We were fast and controlled and it paid off.”
Idaho came out hot in the second half, firing eight shots in the first 10 minutes. Elexis Schlossarek stepped in to take a penalty kick in the 55th minute, trying to put the Vandals up three, but her shot sailed over the crossbar.
The Vandals kept the pressure up for the duration, finishing with 19 shots, compared to just nine by the Red Wolves. Baggerly led the Vandals with nine shots on the day, a new career-high.
Lloyd is the eighth Vandal to score a goal this season. Last year, only seven different Vandals recorded a goal.
“The beauty of our team is that we don't have any one player that you can key on,” said Pittman. “We have a number of different players that can cause problems. We have players that can step up when others might be struggling. Kayla Watanabe attracts a lot of attention from defenders with her speed and skillset, same with Kavita, and it's nice to have someone like Olivia coming out of the midfield to help.
“Our bench also did well today. Megan Goo had a great game for us. Summer Kaneshiro had a great game. We are fortunate to be able to sub out our outside backs with other quality players that can step right in. We knew what we were going to need against a tough Arkansas State team and the whole team went out and executed.”
The Vandals will stay in Tennessee to take on the University of Memphis on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. (Pacific). The meeting will be the first between the two programs. Fans can find live stats links through the soccer schedule page on GoVandals.com.
Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho soccer by following the team on Twitter and Instagram, @VandalsSoccer, or on Facebook by searching Idaho Vandals Women's Soccer.
For more information on Idaho Athletics, visit GoVandals.com. Fans can also find Idaho on Twitter and Instagram, @Idaho_Vandals, or on Facebook by searching Idaho Vandals.
