It was a monumental 24-hour period for several area players and teams Thursday night and through the day Friday. It started with Washington State posting a 1-0 upset win over second-ranked Stanford on a goal from Maegan O'Neill. On Friday, Eastern Washington clinched the regular season title and hosting rights for the Big Sky tournament thanks in part to Chloe WIlliams (Spokane, WA), who became the All-Time Big Sky Goal Scoring Leader. Meanwhile, down in California Kelsey Turnbow (Spokane, WA) tallied a hat-trick for Santa Clara.
Eastern Washington's victory over Idaho State was no surprise, but their clinching of the top seed was not entirely foreseen. All four teams behind them in the table all dropped points on the day with second place Portland State losing, Montana and Northern Colorado playing to a draw and Northern Arizona falling. Due to those results, the defending regular season champion Idaho, sitting 10th, are still mathematically alive for the sixth spot with two games remaining after a comeback win against Weber State.
BIG SKY ROUND-UP ####
Eastern Washington 4-2 Idaho State
In their first road game of three to finish out the season, not only did the Eagles take care of business by clinching the regular season title, but Chloe Williams (Spokane, WA) wasted little time finding the goal to become the new All-Time Goal Scoring Leader in Big Sky Conference history. She scored her 40th career goal 190 seconds into the contest (fourth minute) for the lead on a through ball from Aimie Inthoulay. Three minutes later she turned provider with a ball to Devan Talley. Jenny Chavez gave the Eags, who outshot ISU 23-10 in the contest, full command with a shot from about 25 yards to push the lead to three. Makena Bambei tallied for the Bengals in the 38th off a rebound to close out the scoring for the half. Saige Lyons scored the fourth on some help from Talley in the 72nd and Brooke Kortekaas tallied for ISU in the 80th to round out the scoring.
Montana 0-0 Northern Colorado
The defense from the Grizzlies, which have allowed just four goals, continues to excel with their fourth shutout of the season. Claire Howard made two stops as they outshot the hosts 16-7 (8-2 on goal), but continue to have difficulty finding the back of the net.
Idaho 3-2 Weber State
It looked like the Vandals were headed toward yet another defeat... and then the offense finally woke up. Well, Bridget Daley did anyway. After a pair of goals from the Wildcats in the 11th and 13th minutes, the second via Sadie Newsom (Richland, WA), Daley got on the board with a tap-in amidst a scramble in the box in the 22nd minute. The one-goal deficit remained until a penalty was converted by Daley in the 57th. The contest went into the final minutes locked at two when Megan Goo intercepted the ball in the defensive end and fired a ball up the left side for a run by Olivia Baggerly, who found Daley for the finish in the two-on-one scenario in the 86th minute. The result jumped the Vandals out of last and over their state rival Idaho State.
North Dakota 1-0 Portland State
Southern Utah 1-0 Northern Arizona
Remaining Schedule...
Sunday, October 22
Eastern Washington @ Weber State
Idaho @ Idaho State
North Dakota @ Montana
Northern Colorado @ Portland State
Southern Utah @ Sacramento State
Friday, October 27
Eastern Washington @ Idaho
Portland State @ Montana
Weber State @ Idaho State
Northern Colorado @ North Dakota
Northern Arizona @ Sacramento State
Big Sky Standings (W-L-T... Pts)
Eastern Washington 7-0-1... 22*
Portland State 5-3-0... 15
Montana 4-2-2... 14
Northern Colorado 4-3-1... 13
Northern Arizona 4-5-0... 12
North Dakota 4-4-0... 12
Southern Utah 4-5-0... 9
Sacramento State 2-3-3... 9
Weber State 2-4-2... 8
Idaho 2-5-1... 7
Idaho State 2-6-0... 6
^Clinched Big Sky Playoff spot
* Regular Season Champion / Tournament host
OTHER DI RESULTS ####
WOMEN - GONZAGA
Next...
10/21 - Gonzaga @ Portland
WOMEN - WASHINGTON STATE
#2 UCLA 0-1 Washington State
Four minutes into the contest Thursday night Maegan O'Neill (Spokane, WA) scored off a second chance opportunity following a corner to give the Cougars the surprise lead early. The two sides went on to play a rather even contests with WSU being outshot 13-11 but have an advantage in shots on goal 7-5. In goal Ella Dederick had a fantastic night with five saves, including several key denials. Now they play host to sixth-ranked USC Sunday.
Next...
10/22 - #6 USC @ Washington State
WOMEN - BOISE STATE
Nevada 1-3 Boise State
The Broncos took care of business against the winless Wolfpack. Aubree Chatterton (Boise, ID) set up Raimee Sherle (Meridian, ID) twice, feeding her with a through ball in the 35th for the lead at the break and finding her again in the 53rd to double the lead. A penalty put the visitors on the board in the 54th, but McKenna Kynett restored the two-goal margin three minutes later to secure the win.
Next...
10/22 - UNLV @ Boise State
MEN - GONZAGA
Next...
10/27 - San Francisco @ Gonzaga
10/29 - Santa Clara @ Gonzaga
Around the Nation / Notes
A week after AQI levels postponed their home games, Kelsey Turnbow (Spokane, WA) was unstoppable for Santa Clara on the road at Saint Mary's, tallying a hat-trick. She scored the second, third and fifth goals - the last on a through ball from Kelcie Hedge (Post Falls, ID) - in a 6-1 victory... Sam Werner (Bozeman, MT) created the first goal for #6 Stanford in a 2-1 win over #21 Washington on a goal that was ultimately scored off a rebound and got an assist on the game-winner when free kick was put away off a header... Making his third consecutive start in goal Tuesday, redshirt freshman Tor Saunders (Spokane, WA) led #12 Akron to a 2-0 shutout win over #8 Notre Dame with four saves. He has allowed just one goal in the three games, which have all been wins.
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