POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State (0-3) surged late but was unable to overcome a two-goal head start by Wyoming (3-0-1) at Davis Field Thursday night as they lost 2-1.
"I saw a lot out of my team tonight," said Head Coach
Allison Gibson. "I thought we came back really, really strong from our road trip this weekend. I think we made the changes that we needed to make in practice, and I thought that our kids did a really, really good job of battling today."
Wyoming's Amber Vokoun opened the scoring early in the game, netting the first goal after Alyssa Murray's shot was redirected by ISU goalkeeper
Laule'a Akana-Phillips. Vokoun collected the rebound just in front of the goal and gave the Cowgirls a lead they never ceded in the 16th minute.
The first half was dominated by the visitors as they registered 11 shots to Idaho State's four and forced Akana-Phillips to make four saves. Cristina Salazar took the goal box for the Cowgirls in the first and tallied two saves.
The Bengals offense came out on a mission in the second, outshooting Wyoming 14-8 and forcing the new goaltender for Wyoming to make seven saves.
"I thought they did a tremendous job of trying to play-make out of the back as opposed to just playing long balls forward," Gibson said.
Shortly after the buzzer sounded for the second half, Wyoming tallied another goal from the foot of Sekoya Romero. Alyssa Murray crossed the ball from the left and Romero punted in the shot from five yards out on the right to give the Cowgirls a 2-0 lead in the 49th minute.
Minutes later,
Makena Bambei launched a shot from outside the 18-yard box, which was saved by Hannah Lee near the left post.
Brooke Kortekaas came swarming in and appeared to cut the lead in half with a goal, but the assistant referee waved it off and signaled an offside violation.
Idaho State was able to secure a goal in the 82nd minute as freshman
Delaney Johnston redirected a ball from just in front of the goaltender to the left half of the net. Bambei and
Lauren McGahie assisted Johnston on the goal.
The play was a career marker for all involved. It was the first goal for Johnston, the first assist for McGahie and the second assist for Bambei.
Bambei led the Bengals with five shots, three on goal, and forward
Meaghan Bare added four with one on goal. Johnston and Cristina Krieger both had two shots with both registering on goal.
This was the first game all season the Bengals featured one goalkeeper. Akana-Phillips played both halves and tallied a career-high five saves.
The Bengals had 18 shots, two assists, four points and 10 shots on goal, which are all season highs.
Idaho State travels to Provo, Utah to take on the BYU Cougars on Saturday, Sept. 1.
"I'm excited again to see where we're at stacked against one of the best teams in the country," Gibson said. "I think it's a great atmosphere down there that they create, and I think it will be the perfect opportunity for a college environment game that we are just able to, hopefully, come away with some strong production from our players."
