Soccer blanks Idaho State in first season game
Junior midfielder Andra Hansen kicked the game-winning goal in the 58th minute to beat the Idaho State Bengals 1-0 Friday afternoon at ISU’s Davis Field in Pocatello.
The goal came off assists from junior midfielder Dana Peart and forward Charity Weston, a senior. Weston started the play by sending the ball to the corner where Peart was positioned. Peart eyed Hansen in scoring position and crossed the ball into the 6-yard box, where Hansen’s kick deflected off an ISU defender into the net.
Head Coach Heather Cairns said of Hansen, “She was able to come through for us in a big way. It was so awesome that she had the composure to put it in. She was very calm and focused on her technique and kept that ball low.”
The score was the first for Hansen, who has a career mark of only four shots on goal, three of those occurring last season, but no goals prior to this game. Hansen appeared in 18 matches last season and was an Academic All-WAC selection.
Goalkeeper Ali Griffin, a sophomore, assisted in the shutout by making two official saves and preventing a total of nine shots on goal. ISU applied heavier pressure on the net after Hansen’s goal, but couldn’t land the ball in the net. In the final minutes of the match, Griffin tipped a shot over the crossbar after a close shot from within the 6-yard box to seal the victory.
“Ali was very good all game,” Cairns said. “She was exceptional at the end of the game. She had to come off her line quite a bit and be aggressive. She was big time for us.”
But that lead wasn’t easy to keep.
“Any time one of their players got the ball, they were trying to play behind the back line,” Cairns said. “We had to do some kind of clock-stalling maneuvers.”
The lady Ags applied strong pressure on the goal early in the game and finished with a total of five shots on goal. In the first minute of play, the Aggies led an attack on ISU goalkeeper Lindsay Gensler by sending the ball to Candice Clark in the 18-yard box. The play was thwarted and ISU retaliated with a free kick just outside the 18-yard box a few moments later. The kick was blocked by the Aggie defenders.
“Going into the game, we talked about energy level and matching Idaho State’s energy level,” Cairns said. “We wanted to outsmart them, outthink them. The first half they put a lot of pressure on us. I thought we did a good job at keeping our composure and not wigging out.”
The win moves the Aggies to a record of 1-0-1, after tying Dixie in an exhibition game Aug. 19.
“The big thing we were looking to do was to be better than we were against Dixie,” Cairns said. “We were very average when we tied Dixie. We had a lot of opportunities and only put one away. We really wanted to make those attempts quality and capitalize on them. We needed to get a better rhythm, feel, chemistry in the attack. They were phenomenal – nothing short of phenomenal.”
The soccer team next plays Weber State at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Chuck and Gloria Bell Soccer Field, located next to the Stan Laub Training Center on 1400 North. Last season the Aggies lost to Weber State 0-1 in a midseason game and have an all-time record of 5-5-1 against the Wildcats.
“I think Weber State is going to be a lot like Idaho State – similar in their play and style,” Cairns said. “The games against Weber State are always a battle. It should be a good energetic match.”