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*Friday's game against NAU will not have a radio broadcast or audio on the live stream.
POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State soccer welcomes Big Sky opponents to the pitch at Davis Field for the first time this season with games against Northern Arizona and Southern Utah. The Bengals face the Lumberjacks at 4 p.m. Friday afternoon and the Thunderbirds at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
Friday's game against NAU is Kid's Night with all children in the eighth grade or below receiving free admission thanks to Idaho Central Credit Union.
The Idaho State Journal will place buy one ticket, get one ticket for free passes for Sunday's game in the paper on Thursday and Sunday.
Nonconference Recap
Idaho State went 1-6 in nonconference play highlighted by a 5-4, double-overtime win against Utah State.
Six players have scored a goal for ISU with freshman
Delaney Johnston leading the team with two.
Makena Bambei and
Meaghan Bare lead the team with 14 shots, and
Brooke Kortekaas has 13 shots. Bambei is the only one out of the trio without a goal despite leading the team with eight shots on goal.
Laule'a Akana-Phillips and
Katie Hogarth split time in three of the seven games with Akana-Phillips taking the majority of minutes in goal. The freshman has tallied 35 saves and allowed 22 goals in 509 minutes of play. Hogarth has eight saves and six goals allowed in 135 minutes.
Last Time Out
Idaho State was shutout twice, once at home and once on the road, to end nonconference play last week.
Kortekaas led all ISU players at seven shots with three on goal.
Esmeralda Nunez, Bambei and
Christina Krieger each had two shots on goal.
Akana-Phillips played the entire game against South Dakota State and one half against Boise State, allowing four goals between the three halves. She also made six saves. Hogarth played the second half against the Broncos and made three saves with one goal allowed.
Scouting Northern Arizona
The Lumberjacks compiled a 4-3-1 record in nonconference play and have gone 2-1 on the road so far. They lead the conference in winning percentage, barely edging out Eastern Washington (4-3-2).
Six players have scored for the 'Jacks in 2018, but Sam Larberg is the only player with two goals despite coming off the bench in most games. The freshman forward has logged 12 shots with six on goal.
Taryn Benham has played all 757 minutes in goal for NAU. The sophomore has faced 63 shots, making 25 saves and allowing seven goals. She has also posted three shutouts.
The Lumberjacks have eight goals on 76 attempts this season with 41 shots on goal for a .539 on-goal average. Their opponents have eight goals on 64 shots to average one goal and eight shots per game.
Andre Luciana enters his 17th season as the NAU head coach. He has a 131-135-47 overall record and carries a 57-43-20 mark in Big Sky play.
Idaho State is 8-13-3 against Northern Arizona. Both teams hold the advantage at home with ISU tallying a 5-4-2 record against the Lumberjacks at Davis Field. The Bengals fell 4-0 in Flagstaff during the 2017 season.
Scouting Southern Utah
Southern Utah has not won a game on the road with a 1-8 record in nonconference play.
The Thunderbirds have just three goal scorers for the season with Devri Hartle and MaKenzie Lawrence leading the way at two goals each. Taylor Harris secured the other goal for SUU. Hartle and Brielle Bourgeois account for SUU's two assists.
Three goalies have seen time for SUU with Brianna Aldridge playing 675 of the 810 minutes in goal. She posted a shutout in Southern Utah's lone win and has 45 saves and 13 goals allowed.
The T-birds have landed five goals with 71 attempts on the season. Of their 71 attempts, 29 have been on goal. Southern Utah averages 7.89 shots per game and 0.56 goals per game while allowing 16.22 shots and 1.89 goals per game to opponents.
Fred Thompson enters his second year as head coach at SUU.
The Bengals have a dominant 12-4-0 record against the Thunderbirds despite losing the last three meetings. They have lost just one home matchup against SUU in seven contests.
