Box Score
Pocatello, Idaho - The Idaho State Bengal soccer team held Salt Lake Community College to just two shots in a stellar defensive performance en route to a 2-0 victory at Davis Field Tuesday Evening.
The Bengals got on the board when junior defender Mikaela Carrillo found the back of the net on an unassisted goal from 35 yards out in the 24th minute.
Late in the second frame junior midfielder Allyssa Kenney emerged from a crowd in front of the goal to score the second goal of the match in the 79th minute.
The real story of the match was Idaho State's defense. The Bengals allowed just two shots during the 80 minute match with neither shot being on goal.
The majority of the match was played on the SLCC side of the field with just a few forays into Bengal territory.
Despite the strong defensive effort Head Coach Allison Gibson was frustrated with the effort on offense. It isn't hard to see why. The Bengals had eight corner kicks which only resulted in one goal. They also had 22 shots but only five were on goal.
"It was frustrating in the sense that I thought we were try too hard to do everything right," Gibson said. "In the first half we were playing our training. Training is just a means to an end; it has to fit into the concept of the game. In the second half we made that adjustment and things opened up a little bit."
Gibson thought the lack of offensive output also had plenty to do with the competition. The Bruins played a very aggressive game all the way to the final horn.
"I thought Salt Lake played great," Gibson said. "I told their coach that they worked hard. They played together and they were feisty. They really gave us a run for our money."
SLCC, a club team, was a mystery to the Bengals. Gibson had never watched them play and had no idea what to expect. The opportunity to play against an unknown opponent is something she thinks will help the team in the meat of the non-conference schedule.
"The nice thing about this game is that we had no idea what to expect from this team," Gibson said. "I think this experience is going to help us a lot when we play teams we have never faced like Texas Tech and Florida Gulf Coast. We will have to figure those teams out within the flow of the game. This will help us be prepared for that."
The match was the second of three preseason matches for the Bengals. The first was Saturday's Alumni Game, the third will be another exhibition game with the College of Idaho Coyotes next Tuesday afternoon.
Idaho State has just 10 days until they face Boise State in their first game of the season that counts in the win column.
"We still have a lot of work to do so we are going to have to stick our heads together and prioritize what we need to get done before we play Boise State," Gibson said.
