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POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State soccer team lost 5-1 to Utah Valley on Sunday afternoon at Davis Field. The score was tied at one after 56 minutes of play but UVU found the back of the net four times in the final 20 minutes to put the game away.
"For 75 minutes it was incredible soccer," Idaho State coach
Allison Gibson said. "I watched their game Friday night against Utah online and I had everything prepared for my team on them. From every strength they have and everything we needed to do; we were ready. For 75 minutes we did everything well."
UVU led 1-0 at halftime.
Nikolina Musto tied the game at one in the 56
th minutes when she connected on a free kick. For the next 15 minutes of play, both sides went back and forth in an even match. The tide changed in the 70
th minute when Utah Valley's Breanna DeWaal was awarded a penalty kick after a Bengal slid into her in the box.
After the successful PK, the Wolverines scored three more goals in the final 15 minutes.
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"I told my team at the end that when a freshman unfortunately makes that decision to slide tackle in the box and gives up that second goal, that was a defining moment for us," Gibson said. "I told them, 'That was the moment in the game where you had to come together and say this is our leadership moment. This goal doesn't define us. The next one we score defines us. Let's go at it.' Instead we went south and let them hammer us. The sad thing for these kids is that this was so far from a 5-1 game."
Utah Valley outshot the Bengals 31-10.
Katie Hogarth made her first start and came up with 10 saves.
Despite giving up five goals, Gibson said she was pleased with the play of her goalkeeper.
"I am very pleased," she said. "To be fair it was the entire team in front of her with the mistakes we made. We didn't play well in front of her. I was happy with the 75 minutes she gave us."
Idaho State begins Big Sky Conference play this weekend with games at Eastern Washington Sept. 23 and Montana on Sept. 25.
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