Across the border from the Vandals, the Cougars split their weekend homestand, falling in a narrow 1-0 decision to a USC side led by their former coach and winning a wild back-and-forth affair with UCLA, 4-2.
Back north in Spokane, the Gonzaga women also split their two home contests as they opened play in the West Coast Conference, which saw all but one women's game on opening weekend decided by one goal. The lady Zags nearly got a surprise result against sixth-ranked BYU in a 1-0 loss before rebounding with a win against San Diego.
On the men's side, Gonzaga earned a split on a travel-heavy road trip to play Bradley and eighth-ranked Denver, where they dropped another tight contest.
Here is a round-up of the action last week:
WOMEN #############
BIG SKY CONFERENCE
Sacramento State 1 :: 3 Eastern Washington
Facing one of the other 2-0-0 sides, the Eagles got off to a great start with a pair of Chloe Williams (Spokane, WA) to Savannah Hoekstra (Liberty Lake, WA) goals. Williams fed Hoekstra with a cross through the area in the 18th minute for the lead and delivered a through ball for the second six minutes later to double the lead. Willams scored one of her own at the half-hour mark with a shot from the top of the box. With a comfortable three-goal advantage the shot advantage went from 13-5 in favor of the hosts to 10-8 for the visitors in the second half with the Hornets spoiling the Eagles' shutout on a breakaway in the 88th, just less than a minute after Sasha Holt (Boise, ID / Walla Walla CC) came in to relieve starting goalkeeper Mallory Taylor, who needed to make just two saves on the day. MORE [+]
Southern Utah 1 :: 2 Montana
Portland State 0 :: 1 Idaho
Just before the 30-minute mark, Olivia Baggerly provided the lone goal of the contest with a free kick from just outside of the box that deflected off the wall and the left post before crossing the line. Amanda Poertner made three saves in goal for the clean sheet. MORE [+]
Idaho State 0 :: 3 Northern Colorado
Weber State 3 :: OT :: 2 North Dakota
Sunday, October 4
Sacramento State 0 :: 1 Idaho
Poertner posted another shutout performance, this time making eight saves as the Vandals made Clara Gomez's goal in the 39th minute stand. Gomez netted her first of the year off a loose ball after a Josilyn Daggs shot from distance rebounded from a mishandled save by the goalkeeper. MORE [+]
Northern Arizona 0 :: 0 Montana
Both sides came into the season voted in a tie to win the conference, but came into the match struggling with just one win each. Those woes continued as neither team was able to find the back of the net. Both directed 13 shots at goal, but the visitors, featuring Ashlynn Curnow (Boise, ID) on defense, needed to just one save for the shutout while goalkeeper Kailey Norman made five saves for Montana. MORE [+]
Thirty seconds before the break, the Eagles found what stood as the winner when Tasha Luu (Colville, WA / CC Spokane) took a ball she deflected off a defender and drove to goal, beating the goalkeeper one-on-one with a shot under the bar. The visitors finished with a 12-8 advantage in shots, but Taylor made six saves for the shutout performance. MORE [+]
Idaho State 2 :: 3 North Dakota
The Bengals found themselves down three again, this time just 27 minutes into the match. Maria Sanchez (American Falls, ID) tried to mount a rally valiantly, converting a penalty in the 84th and chipping the goalkeeper on a ball from Nikolina Musto just 18 seconds later to pull within one. It was all they could muster, however. MORE [+]
Weber State 0 :: 1 Northern Colorado
Standings
Eastern Washington 4-0-0... Idaho 4-0-0... Northern Colorado 3-0-0... North Dakota 2-1-0... Sacramento State 2-2-0... Northern Arizona 1-1-1... Montana 1-2-1... Weber State 1-3-0... Portland State 1-3-0... Southern Utah 0-3-0... Idaho State 0-4-0
Upcoming Games
Friday, October 9
Idaho State @ Portland State 1:00
Eastern Washington @ Montana 3:00
Sacramento State @ Weber State 4:00
North Dakota @ Southern Utah 4:00
Northern Colorado @ Northern Arizona 6:00
Sunday, October 11
Portland State @ Weber State 12:00
Montana @ Idaho 1:00
Northern Colorado @ Southern Utah 1:00
Sacramento State @ Idaho State 1:00
WEST COAST CONFERENCE
BYU 1 :: 0 Gonzaga
The Bulldogs stymied the sixth-ranked Cougars and nearly came away with a positive result, but their best chance in the 48th minute was denied by the right post when a corner into the box was volleyed first-time by Savannah Van Citters from 14 yards. The visitors finally broke through in the 70th minute. Christie Tombari (Spokane, WA) had another good performance in goal with eight saves. MORE [+]
San Diego 1 :: 0 Portland
Friday, October 2
Pacific 0 :: 1 Pepperdine
Saint Mary's 1 :: 2 Loyola Marymount
Saturday, October 3
The Bulldogs ended their eight-game winless run (5-0-3) against the Toreros. They took the initial lead in the 54th on a great play from Jodi Ulkekul, who drove up the middle and then diagonally to the right, beating two defenders before launching a 20-yard effort inside the far left post. Tombari, who made three saves in the game, made a great stop in the 73rd minute, tipping a ball over the bar after a header hit the crossbar. The following corner dropped into the six and was headed by a Zag near post only for it to drop in over the line at the far post for an own goal to tie it up. The winner came with just under nine minutes remaining on a great team goal finished by a wonderful individual effort from Karley Baggerly. Aliyah Miller played a ball forward to Heather Johnson (Kennewick, WA), who made a great back-heel touch from the middle to her left, finding an on-rushing Baggerly. She collected the ball four yards from the penalty arc and made a weaving run two yards into the middle of the box, beating three defenders before sending her shot home for the winner from 16 yards. MORE [+]
BYU 2 :: 1 Portland
Sunday, October 4
Pacific 0 :: 2 Loyola Marymount
Saint Mary's 1 :: 0 Pepperdine
San Francisco 1 :: 0 Santa Clara
Standings
BYU 2-0-0... Loyola Marymount 2-0-0... San Francisco 1-0-0... Pepperdine 1-1-0... Saint Mary's 1-1-0... Gonzaga 1-1-0... San Diego 1-1-0... Santa Clara 0-1-0... Portland 0-2-0... Pacific 0-2-0
Upcoming Games
Friday, October 9
Portland @ Saint Mary's 2:00
San Diego @ BYU 6:00
Loyola Marymount @ Santa Clara 7:00
Gonzaga @ Pacific 7:00
Pepperdine @ San Francisco 7:00
Sunday, October 11
Gonzaga @ Saint Mary's 11:00
Loyola Marymount @ San Francisco 1:00
Portland @ Pacific 1:00
Pepperdine @ Santa Clara 1:00
Thursday, October 1
UCLA 1 :: 2 Washington
Kelcie Hedge (Post Falls, ID) gave the Huskies the initial lead in the 65th minute, knocking in the rebound of a saved shot.
USC 1 :: 0 Washington State
For the second time in two years, the former 2012-13 Cougar coach Keidane McAlpine picked up a 1-0 victory in Pullman for the Trojans, who were 1-4-3 against the Cougars in the previous eight years. The visitors took advantage of a loose ball in the box with 12 minutes left when goalkeeper Ella Dederick, who made five saves, was unable to fully collect a cross. MORE [+]
Friday, October 2
California 0 :: 1 Arizona
Rachel Estopare (Bend, OR) made eight saves for the shutout with her sister, Hayley, setting up the game-winner in the 71st minute.
Utah 1 :: 0 Oregon State
Stanford 2 :: 0 Arizona State
Colorado 0 :: 1 Oregon
UCLA 2 :: 4 Washington State
The Cougars came out on top with goals from four different players in a wild back-and-forth affair. Cara Wegner found the lower right corner of the goal from 19 yards on a free kick in the 26th minute and Beau Bremer forced a turnover at the top of the box and hit the lower left corner from 16 yards in the 39th to double the lead. Darian Jenkins, though, wiped it all away in the span of 76 seconds for the Bruins to even things up in the 50th minute, but the Cougars answered quickly via a saved shot from Wegner two minutes later that was put away by Kaitlyn Johnson on the rebound. Six minutes later Johnson served a ball into the area from the left that Kourtney Guetlein struck home on the volley. MORE [+]
Stanford 3 :: 2 Arizona
Colorado 0 :: 2 Oregon State
California 1 :: 0 Arizona State
Utah 2 :: 0 Oregon
USC 0 :: 1 Washington
Standings
Stanford 3-0-0... Washington State 2-1-0... Washington 2-1-0... Arizona 2-1-0... USC 2-1-0... Utah 2-1-0... California 1-2-0... Colorado 1-2-0... Oregon State 1-2-0... UCLA 1-2-0... Oregon 1-2-0... Arizona State 0-3-0
Upcoming Games
Thursday, October 8
Oregon State @ Stanford 7:00
Friday, October 9
Oregon @ California 1:00
Washington @ Colorado 2:00
Arizona State @ USC 3:00
Washington State @ Utah 3:00
Arizona @ UCLA 7:00
Sunday, October 11
Washington State @ Colorado 12:00
Oregon State @ California 12:00
Washington @ Utah 1:00
Arizona State @ UCLA 1:00
Arizona @ USC 3:30
Oregon @ Stanford 5:00
MEN #############
WEST COAST CONFERENCE
Wednesday, September 30
San Francisco 0 :: 3 New Mexico (NL)
Thursday, October 1
Santa Clara 1 :: 0 San Jose State (NL)
Portland 0 :: 2 Longwood (NL)
Gonzaga 2 :: 0 Bradley (NL)
Defender Ben White had a quality game. In addition to helping lead the team to the shutout - Chris Lowrimore with five saves - he scored the opening goal in the 41st minute with a 16-yard rocket into the upper right corner on a play set up by Colton Cavey and Sam Olson. He later combined with Jake Kempf in the 70th minute to find Christo Michaelson at the far post for an insurance goal. MORE [+]
Saturday, October 3
Saint Mary's 0 :: 1 WMU (NL)
Sunday, October 4
Pacific 0 :: 2 CSU Bakersfield (NL)
Monday, October 5
Gonzaga 1 :: 2 Denver
The Zags played another tight game against a quality ranked opponent, falling at eighth-ranked Denver on a second half penalty kick in the 53rd minute. They originally fell behind in the sixth minute, but evened things up early in the second half when a free kick from Cavey was nodded in from about eight yards by Alec Johnson (Coeur d'Alene, ID / North Idaho College). MORE [+]
Upcoming Games
Monday, October 5
Portland @ Virginia 4:00 (NL)
Tuesday, October 6
Santa Clara @ Akron 4:00 (NL)
Saturday, October 10
Loyola Marymount @ San Diego 7:00
Sunday, October 11
Gonzaga @ Portland 1:00
Pacific @ Saint Mary's 2:00
San Francisco @ Santa Clara 7:00
PAC-12
UCLA 0 :: OT :: 1 Oregon State
Timmy Mueller (Post Falls, ID) scored the dramatic overtime game-winner in the 101st minute, lifting a bouncing long ball delivered from deep in their end over the keeper from just left of the penalty spot.
San Diego State 0 :: 1 Washington
Sunday, October 4
San Diego State 0 :: 1 Oregon State
Stanford 2 :: 1 California
UCLA 3 :: 2 Washington
Standings
Oregon State 2-0-0... Stanford 1-0-0... Washington 1-1-0... UCLA 1-1-0... California 0-1-0... San Diego State 0-2-0
Upcoming Games
Friday, October 9
Oregon State @ California 3:00
Washington @ Stanford 8:00
Oregon State @ Stanford 1:00
Washington @ California 3:00
Monday, October 12
San Diego State @ UCLA 7:00
ADDITIONAL DI NOTES #############
- In a blowout 5-0 victory Friday, Julia Moravec (Spokane, WA) set up the opening goal in the 23rd and then scored the next two in the 27th and 31st to lead Seattle University past host Chicago State.
- Andrew Glaeser (Walla Walla, WA) made four saves for Northern Illinois in a scoreless draw Saturday against Bowling Green in their conference opener.
-- INWsn --
