Cowgirl Soccer Rebounds After First Loss

photo courtesy of gowyo.com

by staff–8 Sep ’19

 With two goals from senior Michaela Stark, the Wyoming women’s soccer team (2-1-2 overall) rebounded with a dominate 4-1 victory over the Idaho State Bengals (0-5-1 overall) on Sunday afternoon. The Cowgirls have now defeated the Bengals the last five meetings. The win comes after Wyoming lost to Baylor 2-0 Friday afternoon, snapping the nation’s longest non-conference home unbeaten streak at 17 games.

Wyoming came out strong with a couple of early shots that where saved by goalie Katie Hogarth. Off a corner kick from junior Elle Webber, sophomore Savannah Warner knocked in a header that put the Cowgirls up 1-0 with 5:25 on the clock. UW had a couple of looks over the next twenty minutes before another one got pushed past the ISU goalkeeper. The first goal by Stark was a shot off the side of her foot that went past the line to give the Cowgirls a 2-0 advantage. Warner had the assist. It was pretty even between the two teams over the next several minutes until a goal by Jasmin Lopez at the 41:41 mark made it 2-1. Makena Bambei had the assist. Wyoming would head in to halftime up 2-1. The Cowgirls outshot the Bengals 11-7 in the half and each team had two corner kicks.

It didn’t take the Cowgirls much time in the second half to get back in the scoring column. In the 48th minute, sophomore Amber Vokoun headed in a shot that was bouncing around the front of the goal to extend the lead 3-1. Freshman Maria Allen had the assist. Less than ten minutes later with 56:15 on the clock, Stark hit a shot that curled around the goalie to the right corner to make it 4-1 and her second goal of the day. Allen recorded her second assist as well. Idaho State had a few opportunities including five shots on goal which were saved by sophomore Riley Furbush. Despite being outshot down the stretch, the Cowgirls came away with the 4-1 win.

“I thought Idaho State presented different opportunities and challenges. They came out in a 4-3-3 and we were ready for that,” head coach Pete Cuadrado said. “Last ten minutes, they switched to a 4-4-2, which may have caught us off guard a bit and being in the wind during the first half didn’t really help. We made some adjustments at the half and getting the wind in the second half I thought the team picked it up. We executed much better and scored some great goals. Even those we missed, we created some good opportunities and played a great second half. I thought it was a good finish to the weekend.”

For the second straight game, redshirt freshman Jamie Tatum recorded a team-high with four shots and three of them coming on goal. Stark had three shots followed by several others with one. Sophomores Hannah Lee and Furbush split time in goal recording a combined eight saves.  Idaho State was led by Michaela Didericksen and Bambei who each had four shots in the match. The Cowgirls outshot the Bengals 16-13.

Wyoming will return to action on Friday against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds. The game is scheduled for 4 p.m. MT at the Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex.