FARMINGTON, Utah (Nov. 7, 2023) – After claiming their first-ever Big Sky Conference Tournament title, the Idaho Vandals drew No. 8-seeded Gonzaga in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Vandals will square off against the Bulldogs on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. MT/5 p.m. PT.
The winner of the match will go on to face the winner of No. 1 UCLA and UC Irvine next weekend in Los Angeles.
Idaho is looking to become the first Big Sky Conference team since 2005 to win a game in the NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament. That victory came for Weber State against BYU in penalty kicks.
Big Sky Soccer Notebook (NCAA Tournament)
Vandals 2, Lumberjacks 1
The Idaho Vandals advanced to their first-ever NCAA Tournament with a 2-1 victory over the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in the Big Sky Championship in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Maddy Lasher started the scoring for the Vandals in the 28
th minute when she scored on a second-chance header to put her squad up 1-0.
Roughly 10 minutes later the No. 4-seeded Lumberjacks put home an equalizer, as Joey Lujan scored off an assist from Dai Williams to tie the match up at 1-1.
Almost immediately following, however, the Vandals went right back up as Naomi Alvarez notched the game-winning goal.
Both defenses were very strong in the second 45 minutes of action and kept each other from putting any more points on the board.
2023 Big Sky Soccer All-Tournament Team
D: Rebekah Reyes, Idaho (MVP)
GK: Kira Witte, Idaho
D: Allie Larsen, Northern Arizona
D: Alyssa Peters, Idaho
MF: Jayd Sprague, Idaho
MF: Joey Lujan, Northern Arizona
MF: Hannah Alfaro, Idaho
MF: Holly Hunter, Northern Arizona
MF: Sienna Higinbotham, Portland State
F: Naomi Alvarez, Idaho
F: Allison Veloz, Northern Arizona
F: Maddy Lasher, Idaho
Vandal Honorees
Idaho claimed a number of Big Sky honors when the regular season concluded and had quite a few players placed on the Big Sky’s All-Conference Team.
For the second-consecutive season, Vandal goalkeeper Kira Witte was named Big Sky Keeper of the Year, and Alyssa Peters was named Co-Defensive MVP along with Northern Arizona’s Allie Larsen.
Peters was also a First Team All-Conference member, and the only player that was named to it unanimously by the league’s head coaches.
She was joined by teammates Jayd Sprague and Jadyn Hanks as First Team All-Conference players. Kira Witte, Cassidy Elicker, Rebekah Reyes and Margo Schoesler were all named Second Team All-Conference.
Hannah Alfaro was named an Honorable Mention to the All-Conference Team.
About Gonzaga
Gonzaga (13-3-2) earned an automatic bid to the tournament following their first-ever regular season title in the WCC. As of October 29th, the Zags are ranked 19th in the nation and recently defeated No. 15 Santa Clara 1-0. This is the second time Gonzaga has earned a bid to the tournament, the first was in 2005.
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