Cougars Women's Soccer Pulls Away in Closing Minutes, Steals 2-0 Win vs. UC Irvine
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The Washington State Cougars used a late blitz in closing moments to take down the UC Irvine Anteaters in a 2-0 win. Credit: Washington State Soccer/Instagram [/caption]
PULLMAN, Wash. - After 45 minutes, Washington State head coach Chris Citowicki slowly got up from his red fold up chair. He shook his head and inched forward. Hanging his head, he grabbed a white erase board and conversed with his coaching staff.
Citowicki might have been going over formations or plays, but the message between the coaches at halftime stuck with his team and was the deciding factor in the Cougars 2-0 victory over UC Irvine Thursday night at Lower Soccer Field.
The score remained 0-0 through 82 minutes. Both teams had good looks but solid goalkeeping from both sides kept the score at nothing a piece. Citowicki liked the looks his team got, and honing in on a specific look finally broke the stalemate in the 83rd minute.
“All our best chances are the crosses from these areas [sideline] because they were over shifting the backline. Now, we had numbers up in the middle of the box, so it was just like wait until we get another one of those and then execute,” Citowicki said. “We knew where the ball had to be and got people there and look at that, the ball goes in.”
Freshman Delaney Walker controlled the ball for the Cougars in the opponent's corner. She made a subtle move to the right, just enough to get the defender off balanced and sent in a cross to her teammate Lexi Lee. Lee headered it to her left foot where she blasted it just high enough over the UC Irvine goalie for the goal.
Citowicki told his team after the goal to only go to the corner unless it is a clear one-on-one. In the 89th minute, Walker found herself in that situation running down a long pass from Reagan Brisendine. The freshman did not break stride and after the first touch found herself with a one-on-one with the goalie. Just in front of the goal box Walker put it far right, just outside the goalie’s reach to expand the lead to 2-0.
Lee said in the postgame the team has had a lot of conversations about winning 50-50 battles. On Thursday night, Walker gave the Anteater backline troubles all night. She finished with a game-high five shots on goal in 62 minutes and did so on stretching the field out vertically.
The Cougars broke the standstill in the closing minutes, but the only reason they were not climbing out from a deficit instead was Ashlyn Dvorak’s goalkeeping. Dvorak returned after missing the past three games from a cracked rib in practice following the season opener. She finished the game with five saves and anchored her first shutout of the season, dominating in the net.
“I want to give props to Dvorak, because without her crazy saves, I don’t think we stay in that game,” Lee said.
“I should give an acknowledgement to Ashlyn Dvorak, I thought she was phenomenal,” Citowicki added.
Following last week's 3-0 loss to South Dakota State and 0-0 draw to North Dakota State, the Cougars will enjoy the shutout victory with a full week off. They return to action in the Outrigger No Ka Oi tournament, where they face Utah Valley on September 3 and Hawai'i on September 6.
