Oct. 11, 2003
Stats
Pocatello, ID--Weber State University scored two first half goals, then held off a strong second half challenge by Idaho State University to hand the Bengals a loss in the Big Sky Conference Soccer opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at Davis Field.
Weber State, who had lost its last two meetings against ISU, didn't take long to get on the board. Sarah Cortez took a pass just onsides from Rochelle Hoover behind the Bengal defense and chipped the ball from 20 yards over goalkeeper Esther Toronto, who was making her first start as a Bengal. That gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead just 9:22 into the game.
The Wildcats struck again just before halftime. WSU took a long shot into the box that Toronto dropped and the ball bounded away from her where Melissa Grant was waiting and put her first goal of the season into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead at the half.
WSU outshot ISU 6-2 in the first half and controlled play throughout. But after the half the tone of the game changed. ISU came out and took command, getting numerous opportunities, including a total of six shots. After taking six shots in the first half, Weber had just three in the second, mostly off counterattacks.
Heather Jones, Ashli Kimenker and Jennifer Loo all had solid scoring opportunities for the Bengals, but couldn't put the ball in.
The game was dominated by physical play, much of which was initiated by Weber State, which had 19 fouls to ISU's eight and the Wildcats picked up two yellow cards as well.
"Obviously it was a disappointing loss for us," ISU Head Coach Gordon Henderson said. "We played a lot better in the second half, but we played very timid in the first half, just not very composed. We were just pumping long balls into the Weber half, which played right in their hands."
"It's always tough to take a loss like this because you really bank on home games as wins. We've got an uphill battle ahead, but we lost our first game last season and won our next five. If we can stop giving up boneheaded goals we'll be in a lot better shape."
With the loss ISU fell to 4-6-1 overall and 0-1 in Big Sky Conference play. ISU has now lost five straight games by a 2-0 count since the losses of Stacey Allen, Stephanie Anderson and Janel Smith to injuries. The Bengals were also with out the services of starting goalkeeper Shannon Boyle, who was injured last Sunday against Washington. Weber State improved to 3-8-2 and 1-0.
