Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
5-5-0, 2-0-0
Eastern Washington
3-7-0, 1-1-0
Wildcats Tied For First After Victory Over EWU
9/27/2021 7:02:00 PM | Women's Soccer
After coming back from a 1-0 deficit in the second during Friday night's 2-1 victory over Idaho, the Weber State Wildcats saw lightning strike twice and again mounted that same comeback to send Eastern Washington home empty-handed.
After the Wildcats left the Idaho Vandals stunned with two second-half scores there was little to no surprise but rather a feeling of finally. There have been instances where WSU fell behind 1-0 and tried their best to claw their way back but the clock would hit triple zeroes in the midst of their hopes to rally. While their comeback on Friday felt like only a matter of time, their come from behind victory on Sunday against EWU showed that they may have found their stride.
EWU is a team that Head Coach Craig Sanders described as "fast and physical" while concluding that it'd be no easy task to get the best of them.
Weber State opened up the game living in Eastern's territory with crisp and decisive passes but eventually, the Eagles began to fend them off as the pace of the game gradually became more comfortable for them. It became so comfortable that they were able to find the first goal of the game in the 21st minute on a shot that looked like it'd be too high but snuck under the crossbar and into the back of the net.
Throughout the rest of the opening half, neither team was able to create anything of concern for the opposing keepers, and that 1-0 lead from EWU would hold as the teams went into the locker rooms at halftime.
Against Idaho, WSU came out of the locker room and dominated the second half; against Eastern Washington, it was more of a grind.
As time began to tick with each minute seemingly passing quicker than the previous, WSU and EWU were flat-out battling to create scoring chances with neither finding much of anything. That is until the 74th minute when Yira Yoggerst lofted a pass to Morgan Furmaniak who drilled a header into the back of the net for her fourth goal of the year and the tying score.
After Furmaniak's equalizer, it looked as if the Wildcats would be heading to another overtime until Harlee Turnbow rifled a shot towards the Eagles keeper and it deflected off the crossbar then off the keepers back and into the net. The score was classified as an own goal but Turnbow without question played a huge part in taking the lead.
Now leading 2-1, WSU was in complete control of the match and as EWU scrambled to try and find the game-tying score, Mekell Moss punched away their best attempt which helped keep them in front and hold on to their lead as time expired.
After mounting the two comebacks over the weekend, the Weber State Wildcats sit tied for first place in the conference with a 2-0 record in Big Sky play and a 5-5 record overall. Next up, they'll battle with the Idaho State Bengals at the Wildcat Soccer Field on Sunday, Oct. 3 at 1 P.M.
Team Stats
Brooke Flores (1)
GOAL by EWU Flores, Brooke.
20:20
Morgan Furmaniak (4)
Assisted By: Yira Yoggerst
GOAL by WSU Furmaniak, Morgan Assist by Yoggerst, Yira.
73:46
0
GOAL by WSU TEAM.
81:15
