Oct. 28, 2006
Box Score
Ogden, UT--Veronica Walker lofted a shot over the out-stretched arm of goalkeeper Lyndsay Gensler to give Weber State a 2-1 overtime victory over Idaho State Saturday morning at Wildcat Soccer Field. The loss to Weber snaps ISU's five-game win streak. However, the loss does not take away Idaho State's Big Sky Conference regular season title and right to host next week's league tournament, which the Bengals clinched last night when Sacramento State defeated Portland State.
"We'll take this loss and use it to our advantage," said ISU head coach Allison Gibson. "We know its time to put this loss today behind us and build on what we've achieved this season. The team will get back to work this week and be ready for the tournament. Weber's a good team and I'm sure we'll see them again next week. Weber didn't see the best ISU team out on the field today."
Idaho State wraps up regular season play with a 9-8-0 overall, 5-2-0 Big Sky mark. Weber State, which secures one of the four spots at next week's tournament in Pocatello with the win, improves to 9-6-3 overall, 4-2-1 in conference play.
Weber State was first to attack when Linsey McFarland put a ball in the back of the net in the 25th minute to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. Idaho State then tied things up just before halftime when Chelsea Cox took a Jennifer Loo pass and put it in the right side of the net for the score, tying the game 1-1 at halftime.
Idaho State was on the offensive in the second half as the team had multiple opportunities to score. The Bengals collected seven of it's 10 shots in the second half. However, ISU was not able to secure a goal and the game went into an overtime period. In the overtime, ISU was out-shot 3-1 and WSU's Walker found the back of the net in the 99th minute to lock up the victory.
"I told the girls after the game to not hang their heads because we have a lot to celebrate," Gibson said. "This was a tough game to play given the situation we were in. We already knew that we had won the Big Sky title and we knew we would be hosting the tournament next week. I thought we came out flat, but that's the thing about athletics, no matter what's on the line you have a natural motivation to win and we didn't get it done today."
Eight different Bengals registered a shot on goal in Saturday's game. Michelle Okumura and Jill Christofferson led ISU with two shots each. Weber State out-shot the Bengals 20-10 on the day with a 9-8 advantage on goal. Gensler recorded seven saves in goal for the Bengals.
ISU will continue play next week when it hosts the Big Sky Conference Tournament. The Bengals will have the number one seed and will host the number four seed on Friday, Nov. 3 at 1 p.m. at Davis Field.
