POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State Bengals suffered a heartbreaker 2-1 overtime loss to the Southern Utah Thunderbirds Sunday afternoon in Cedar City. The loss concludes the Bengals spring season and now the team can regroup and begin focusing on the fall regular season.
"Soccer is a cruel game, we were the better team today," said ISU Head Coach Debs Brereton. "We outplayed and outworked SUU. What kept us from the deserving win was their goalkeeper making two world-class saves and the post we smashed that would have sealed it."
"I'm so proud of the continued effort and resilience this young team has shown. Our seniors left it all out there today and they should be very proud of the path they have paved for our future team. This short season never really let us get into a rhythm but the experience the freshmen gained from enduring a year like this will prepare them for a brilliant fall season."
"The results did not fall in our favor this spring but we put together some fantastic performances. I'm so proud of this team and feel so privileged to get to work with an incredible group of strong women. I've got all the confidence that our returning players and the incoming class will continue to move this program onwards and upwards. We will be back stronger."
The Bengals got on the board first. On an ISU corner kick, Karlin Wurlitzer hit a beauty of a cross to the opposite side of the box. Caitlin Crist was waiting and using her height as an advantage, vaulted over the SUU defense and connected a header to the back of the net.
The two teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the half. The Bengals had more looks at the net but weren't able to connect on another goal.
Coming out in the second half, ISU continued to press the attack with multiple shots just missing or being saved by SUU.
SUU equalized the game in the 48th minute tying the game at 1-1.
The Bengal offense continued to press for the remainder of the half. Michaela Didericksen just missed a chance to take the lead with 15 to play when her rocket of a shot grazed off the crossbar.
The Bengal defense held strong during regulation as well, continually thwarting the SUU offense. With five minutes to play, Mckayla Wetsel faced a barrage from the Thunderbird offense. After saving a shot that rebounded off of her hands, the Tbirds had another look at the goal, with Wetsel out of position, Wurlitzer stepped up and put her body in front of the ball making a goal-line save and keeping the game tied at 1-1.
Regulation ended and the two teams headed to overtime tied at 1-1. After five minutes of play, the thunderbirds were able to sneak one past Wetsel on a broken play winning the match 2-1 (OT).
The Bengals had a season-high 12 shots with six shots on goal. Jordyn Roth and Crist both had season-high shots with four and three respectively.
Wetsel had four saves after facing six shots on goal by Southern Utah.
The Orange and Black will return to action this fall on the newly renovated Davis Field. Idaho State recently announced full capacity for the games in the fall so follow along at Isubengals.com for ticket information as we get closer to the fall.
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