Vandal soccer is here! The Vandals open the season with a pair of road games in San Diego, starting with UC San Diego, Thursday at 7 p.m. It is the first meeting of the two programs. UCSD made the transition to DI and joined the Big West Conference in 2020. It is the season opener for both teams. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
ABOUT IDAHO: The Vandals return their top six scorers off of last year's team, including Honorable Mention All-Big Sky honoree
Jadyn Hanks (five goals, 11 points) and fifth-year player Savannah Foster (five goals, three GWG). The Vandals will need to replace All-Conference goalkeeper
Avrie Fox and All-conference midfielder
Taylor Brust. Six transfers and six freshman have joined the Vandal squad this season, adding depth and talent to an already solid roster.
ABOUT UC SAN DIEGO: In their third-year as a Division I program, the Tritons finished 5-10-2 a year ago and 3-5-1 in Big West play, missing out on the conference tournament. They played one exhibition match, a 1-0 loss to Grand Canyon. It is a veteran laden team with 10 seniors or grad students on the team and five juniors. Head coach Kristin Jones is a UCSD alum whose name is all over the program record book.
SUPER SENIOR: Savannah Foster took advantage of her extra season due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. She will be entering her fifth year as a Vandal. She has played in 64 games and made 51 starts, including the last 42 consecutive games. The last game that she didn't start for Idaho was Sept. 8, 2019 against UC Riverside.
NEW FACES AROUND MOSCOW: Idaho welcomed six transfers to the squad this season.
Kyla Tucker (Temple),
Makenzie Burks (Western Washington),
Kylie Hummel (St. Mary's),
Annika Farley (Portland),
Sienna Gonzales (SMU) and
Jayd Sprague (San Francisco). While the Vandals have never played against UCSD, Sprague started for San Francisco in the Don's 1-0 win over UCSD last season in San Francisco.
COACHING STAFF: Jeremy Clevenger, the spring 2021 Big Sky Coach of the Year, made some adjustments to his coaching staff this season, veteran assistant coach
Sean Mapson was promoted to Associate Head Coach. The Vandals also welcomed in first-year assistant
Madison Kroger.
25th SEASON OF VANDAL SOCCER
Vandal Soccer enters its 25th season in 2022. Idaho open its first season in 1998 and played its first game on Sept. 1, 1998 against Portland State.
2021 RECAP
Idaho tallied 10 wins in 2021, the most wins since 2016.
Ten wins is tied for the third for most wins in program history.
The Vandals finished the year with a .611 win percentage, the fifth-best in program history.
Idaho finished fifth in the Big Sky standings during the regular-season before falling to Weber State in the Big Sky Quarterfinals.
The Vandals started the season with the a 6-1-1 record, the best start in program history.
Three Vandals earned All-Conference honors, highlighted by Tayler Brust's second-team recognition.
The Vandals weren't particularly potent on offense in 2021, but they were efficient. Idaho's .175 (28/160) shooting percentage is far and away the best percentage in school history.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT
Jadyn Hanks is the lone returning All-Big Sky honoree, the forward earned Big Sky Conference Honorable Mention.
Savannah Foster tallied three game-winning goals on the season, tied for third on the Vandal all-time single season mark. she hit the game-winner against Eastern Washington in the season finale to help the Vandals advance to the conference tournament in Greeley Colorado.
Maddy Lasher and
Jadyn Hanks are among the Big Sky Conference's returning leaders in points each finished last year with 11. Hanks had five goals and an assist while Lasher tallied four goals and three assists.
Alyssa Peters tallied four assists during the 2021 campaign, most among returners. The corner kick specialist does a lot of damage for the Vandals in set pieces.
Savannah Foster took advantage of her extra season due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and will play her fifth year in a Vandal uniform.
MOST RECENTLY
The Vandals played a pair of exhibition games, hosting Calgary before traveling to Seattle to face Washington on the road.
No stats or scores were reported for either game.
UP NEXT
The Vandals stick around in San Diego for a game against San Diego State Sunday at 12 p.m.
