Idaho State University soccer fans don’t know whether they should pat ISU senior Rachel Strawn on the back for her hot start or kick her in the rear for waiting until her senior year to unleash this offensive firepower. Strawn scored her sixth goal in a 2-0 victory against the University of Idaho on Friday. The win against the Vandals kept the Bengals perfect on the year at 4-0 and a firm lead in the Big Sky Conference.
After a 4-0 victory against Minot State where Strawn scored two goals, giving her five in her first three games, ISU soccer head coach Allison Gibson said, “I had been on her for three years to do it and she finally did. She stayed here all summer and trained. She is getting those opportunities in games and just putting them away. It’s exciting. Seeing that hard work pay off is really rewarding for a coach.”
Statistically Strawn is amazing and a completely different player. She is on pace to finish the season with 25 goals, which is 14 more than the ISU record for goals in a season. It took her just three games to surpass the number of goals she has scored in the past two seasons.
Just by looking at her stats, ISU fans would assume that Gibson must be using Strawn differently to put her in this position to score at such a frantic pace. But Strawn said that her increase in scoring is because of a newfound mental strength.
“Last year I had the most opportunities, I didn’t finish it. This year I am learning how to mentally put it in the back of the net,” said Strawn.
Every day after practice, fans can watch Strawn kick the ball in the back of the net with Gibson. This daily routine has given her the confidence she needed to take advantage of those opportunities.
“I set a goal to score every game this season, something I’ve never done before, so I’m sure that has helped,” she said. “Let’s be honest, I’m a lot more spiritual. I feel like my mind is a lot more clear so I owe it to God,” said Strawn. “I’m just finally mentally strong enough to handle it.”
Strawn has provided ISU with that second scoring threat to go with co-Big Sky newcomer of the year Amanda Ellsworth that they missed all of last season.
The burden that was put on Ellsworth of being the only scorer on the team eventually took its toll. Ellsworth started off last season by scoring four goals in the first five games of the seasons, but opposing defenses saw that Ellsworth was the only scoring threat and were able to focus on her and held her to three goals for the rest of the season.
“I can’t imagine how she [Ellsworth] felt last year being the only one scoring,” said Strawn.
Now that Strawn can step up and score on a consistent basis defenses are not going to be able to key in on Ellsworth.
This season Ellsworth and Strawn have led the Bengals in scoring and have developed a formidable two-headed offensive attack. They have both assisted each other on goals this season and when one crosses the ball across the field she can depend on the other to be there.
Strawn and Ellsworth complement each other very well. Strawn has been deadly in between 12 and 18 yards and Ellsworth excels on breakaways and in up-close situations with the goalkeeper.
“It’s been tremendous, I’m not the only one scoring, there are multiple ones scoring and that’s how we are going to win,” said Ellsworth.
It’s not very often that a freshman athlete comes in and brings such a tough mental approach that the upper classmen can look up to. But Ellsworth had a freshman campaign worthy of anyone’s respect. She deservedly was named co-Big Sky Newcomer of the Year and led the Bengals with 7 goals, 15 points, 40 shots and 3 game-winning goals as a freshman.
Strawn said that Ellsworth was so strong mentally and that’s why she was able to score as much as she did last year. Strawn said that Ellsworth’s mental toughness has had a positive effect on everyone and made the entire team, especially herself, mentally tougher.
“We are all mentally stronger, we are all on the same page, we all have one goal in mind and that’s different from last year,” said Strawn.
Mental toughness is going to be key this season since 12 of the Bengals 16 games are on the road.
The next time that ISU fans can watch this dynamic duo at Davis Field will be on Sept. 28 against Southern Utah at 4 p.m.
