MOSCOW, Idaho – Ariel Lofton scored her first goal of the season and
Kira Witte notched her second shutout in three games to give the Idaho women's soccer team a 1-0 win over Nevada in the Vandals' home opener Sunday at the Kibbie Dome.
The Vandals and Wolfpack battle back and forth early. Both teams earning chances in the first 30 minutes of the game, but nobody came away with points.
That changed with just four minutes left in the first half.
Jayd Sprague challenged a Nevada player to steal the ball before finding
Hannah Alfaro, who passed the ball to
Savannah Foster. Foster found
Maddy Lasher streaking to the goal. The Nevada goalkeeper came out to challenge Lasher found Lofton wide open on the other side of the net for the wide-open goal.
The goal proved to be the game-winner.
The Vandals kept the pressure on in the second half. Idaho outshot the Wolfpack 6-3 after the break to earn a 9-6 advantage for the game.
Witte played a stellar game at goalkeeper, she grabbed five saves and faced six shots. The shutout is the second of the young career of the freshman goalkeeper from Germany.
The win improves Idaho's record to 2-1-0 while Nevada falls to 0-2-1.
NOTES
- The goal was Lofton's first of the season and third of her career.
- It was the first game-winning goal of Lofton's career.
- Idaho joins Northern Colorado as the only teams in the Big Sky Conference with multiple wins this season.
- With the assist,
Maddy Lasher now has five points on the year (two goals, 1 assist). In just three games, she is nearly halfway to her career-best of 11 points from last season.
UP NEXT
Idaho travels to the Midwest for games against St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sept. 1 and Chicago State on Sept. 4.
