Sasha Ambrose
Sports Reporter
Over half of the ISU women’s soccer team is comprised of returning players who have never seen the team have a winning season, and this year’s team is trying to change that trend.
As of September 30, the Bengals are currently 2-9 overall, but are 1-3 in conference play. ISU lost its first five games of the season, but a close, 3-2 loss to Northern Arizona and a 1-0 defeat of Southern Utah has the team hopeful for what conference play will bring.
“Our main goal is just to make conference. The last time we made it to conference was 2014,” said Christina Krieger, a sophomore midfielder.
The players say the biggest win of the season thus far has been a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory over Utah State. Sophomore defense Rachel Brownell netted the overtime winner against Utah State.
“It was really exciting,” said defender Lauren McGahie. “We won in double overtime, 5-4. So there were a lot of goals.”
In a game against Southern Utah, Krieger scored the game-winning goal, the only goal scored during the game.
“We’ve just been focusing a lot on our style of play, instead of adjusting to other teams,” Krieger said. “We’re trying to play possession right now and keep our formation.”
With conference play in full swing, the players are aware that no one on the team has seen a winning season at ISU, so they’re focusing on new strategies to improve and grow camaraderie as they move into the second half of the season.
ISU’s next next home game is Oct. 5 against Montana State, and the team won’t travel again until they play Idaho and Eastern Washington.
The team won’t play long-time regional rival Weber State until Oct. 19, one month before the Big Sky Conference tournament is set to begin.
While the team has had their struggles so far this season, they’re counting on the freshmen’s enthusiasm and energy to turn around the last three years. The final scores have been getting closer and closer together, like with Texas El Paso (2-1), Wyoming(2-1), and NAU (3-2).
It’ll be a tough task for the Bengals to make it to conference but they are by no means out of the conference race.
