IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR.
Good afternoon, Coug fans!
Last night, your Washington State Cougars hit the soccer field for the first time in what I feel like has been the longest offseason ever. I missed soccer so much!
And, it was a big one.
For just the second time in program history, over 3,000 fans came out to support us!
3,013 fans makes Lower Soccer Field a special place to play and an even better place to win.
Just getting started…#GoCougs // #CVE23 pic.twitter.com/aTxUrej4GG
— Washington State Soccer (@WSUCougarSoccer) August 18, 2023
If you’ll allow me a moment of sappy- it warms my heart to a degree I’ll never be able to explain to see the house packed like that. I hope that energy maintains throughout the season, and I hope even more I’ll finally be able to get to a game now that I’m much closer!
WSU took on a familiar opponent from our neck of the woods, beating Eastern Washington University 3-1. Let’s break the game down!
To quote the famous meme brought to us by Apollos Hester, they had us in the first half, I’m not gonna lie.
Also if you watch that YouTube link, sorry for the cringey ending of the video- I don’t endorse that, but I wanted to clip the interview for reference.
Anyway! Back to WSU Soccer!
The Cougs were maintaining pressure in the first half, but there were a few key moments where Eastern gave them the slip. We were able to control most of the shooting, hitting 14 shots compared to 2 from Eastern, and hitting 61% of possession.
The first goal of the night went to EWU, made by Grace Terrill.
In the first half, as previously mentioned, Eastern Washington had 2 shots to WSUs 14. In the second, Eastern once again had 2, and WSU dropped down to 13. That’s 4 to 27. I’ll let you interpret that as you will.
Only 2 of those shots total from Eastern were shots on goal, whereas 10 from WSU were shots on goal.
The action really got started in the second half for the Cougs. Within minutes of each other, WSUs own Margie Detrizio and Reagan Kotschau scored (62:07 for Detrizio, 63:12 for Kotschau). Naomi Clark rounded out the game to finish things off with a solid 3-1 victory.
This was the fourth time in school history where two freshman scored goals in the opening game, and it’s happened TWICE under the sage and brilliant leadership of the one and only head coach, Todd Shulenberger.
Here are some highlights of the game!
Next on the docket for your favorite soccer team, you ask? The Cougs head down to Texas to take on Texas A&M at 4pm PT on Sunday, 8/20.
Go Cougs!