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POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State (4-9-1, 1-3-0 BSC) ended its 10-game non-winning streak with a 2-1 victory over Eastern Washington (1-11-0, 0-4-0 BSC) at Davis Field Thursday afternoon.
Freshman
Amanda Ellsworth scored the game winning goal, her sixth goal of the season, on a header assisted by
Rachel Strawn and
Ashley Jones 17:39 into the contest. It was Idaho State's first Big Sky win of the season.
“She's done a tremendous job this year,” said Head Coach
Allison Gibson of Ellsworth. “I'm definitely nominating her for freshman of the year.”
For the third straight game, Idaho State has matched its opponents in shots with 14. However, the Bengals placed nine of its 14 shots on goal compared to Eastern Washington.
Eastern Washington opened the contest with an early goal from Whitney Brannan at the 6:43 mark. Idaho State keeper
Carly Hutchings-Maloney came out of the box to stop a high bouncing ball but after contact fell to the feet of Brannan who tapped the ball in to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Brannan recorded a game-high eight shots with a game-high three on goal.
“She's number one in all the scouting reports and that's all the teams have talked about,” said Gibson of Eastern Washington's Brannan. “She's deceptively fast, she was good on the dribble and she was obviously able to create a lot of opportunities for herself.”
The Bengals quickly responded with a goal from
Rachel Strawn at the 15:28 mark where Ellsworth collected the ball of Eastern Washington's keeper Jamie Walker to pass the ball to Strawn who patted the ball into the back of the net. The goal was Strawn's second of the season and sixth of her career. The junior forward has scored two goals each season as a Bengal.
“She needed that,” said Gibson of Strawn's goal. “We did something different today and just got a ton of repetitions of putting the ball in the back of the net before the game. It's funny because she was a little frustrated because she wasn't doing what she liked so we said 'good, those are all gone, all out of the way.' So she was super excited.”
In ISU's last two games the Bengals gave up quick goals after scoring themselves which was a challenge they did not face against the Eagles.
“The thing we talked a lot about this week was staying on top of our game after scoring, don't sit in, continue to attack, and that hurt us at Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado,” said Gibosn. “See if we can get a shot on goal right away within the next two minutes.”
Just 2:11 after Idaho State's first goal the Bengals found the back of the net again with Ellsworth's game-winning header. The play started at the midfield with Jones. Jones found an open Strawn on the far right wing and passed her the ball. Strawn dribbled then served up the ball to Ellsworth who was standing in the box and headed in the goal.
Idaho State dominated play in the first half out-shooting the Eagles 11-to-5. Eastern Washington fought back in the second period overcoming the Bengals 9-to-3 in shots, but falling short on tying the contest.
Both
Amanda Ellsworth and
Rachel Strawn scored a goal and had an assist for three points in the contest. Defender
Megan Stainbrook was moved up to the front lines in the second half. Stainbrook and Ellsworth tied with a team-high three shots.
The Bengals host Montana on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 1 p.m. at Davis Field.
“I think the biggest thing right now is rest and recovery. We're playing about 15 players and I think we're squeezing everything we can out of them and trying not to leave anything in the tank,” said Gibson.
