Crazy weather rolled through the western United States on Friday and the results come across the interwebs were the same. In the afternoon, the second place Eastern Washington University Eagles played to an eye-opening 3-3 draw with cellar-dweller Southern Utah. With the door open for Idaho to expand their league lead, they came up short in an evening contest in Utah as well against third place Weber State.
The only winners on the day in five games were Portland State, who surprised reigning conference tournament champion Northern Colorado, and Sacramento State, which has climbed into third on the strength of two consecutive wins - the longest current win streak in the conference.
Idaho 1 :: 1 Weber State #####
The Vandals pushed their unbeaten streak to five games with Kavita Battan's first half goal proving to be enough for Idaho to get a point. Facing the Wildcats in their home debut under new lights, the visiting Vandals caught a little luck in the 23rd minute when Josilyn Daggs sent a long through into the area that deflected inside the six for Battan's finish. Goalkeeper Torell Stewart's performance became center stage as she made nine stops in the contest, but in the 76th Paige Stevens was able to even things up for the hosts. MORE [+]
Eastern Washington 3 :: 3 Southern Utah #####
It was a crazy back-and-forth affair in which all six goals were scored in the first half. The hosts got on the board six minutes into the match via Ally Thimsen but Eastern Washington answered four minutes later when Chloe Williams (Spokane, WA) connected with Lexi Klinkenberg for the equalizer in the 10th minute.
Thimsen restored the lead in the 22nd, but Klinkenberg answered again, evening things up in the 29th for the Eagles, who took the lead three minutes later courtesy of Williams on an ball from Delaney Romero (Yakima, WA / Walla Walla CC). A Haley Adams header in the 36th tied things back up for the Thunderbirds and from there the two sides remained deadlocked. Though it was the first time the Eagle defense allowed more than one goal in Big Sky play, the Eagles unbeaten streak is now six games (4-0-2) in the Big Sky this season (5-0-4 in Big Sky regular season going back to last year). They are also unbeaten in the last 10 overall this season. MORE [+]
Montana 2 :: 2 Northern Arizona #####
Ashlee Pedersen (Spokane, WA / Shadow WFT) scored on a ball from Allie Lucas (Billings, MT) in the 35th minute, ending a 288-minute scoreless streak against NAU dating back to 2013. Nine minutes into the second half a long throw-in was inadvertently knocked in for an own goal to give the Grizzlies a two goal lead.
The Griz appeared to be headed to a big win that would have put them in key position for a race to the postseason. Instead, freshman Heather Donais (Kennewick, WA) erased all of Montana's joy with a pair of corner kicks in the final five minutes of the contest, finding Adrian Nixt in the 86th and Carly Gamble in the 89th. Maddie Vincent made seven saves in her debut in place of Kailey Norman, who did not make the trip. MORE [+]
Sacramento State 2 :: 1 North Dakota #####
Katie Moller gave the last place hosts the advantage at halftime with a goal in the 28th minute. In the the second half, though, Jennifer Lum scored twice, tallying the equalizer on a ball from Andrea Boehm in the 50th and the winner in the 63rd.
Portland State 1 :: 0 Northern Colorado #####
The Bears' hopes of being in the race for the regular season title are now quickly sliding to chasing after a playoff berth to defend their tournament title of a year ago. The Vikings registered their upset win with a strike at the 29-minute mark, a Katie Forsee chip over goalkeeper Madeline Burdick, who only saw two shots on goal in the match. Her counterpart on the other end, Abbie Faingold, made three saves to give them their first win at UNC since 2008.
Coming Up #####
Sunday, October 16
Idaho State @ Weber State 11:00
Portland State @ North Dakota 11:00
Sacramento State @ Northern Colorado 12:00
Eastern Washington @ Northern Arizona 12:00
Montana @ Southern Utah 12:00
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