The Boise State women’s soccer season has officially come to an end with a 2-1 loss in the Mountain West Championship game against New Mexico on Saturday, Nov. 6.
Weeks earlier, the team sat in 11th in Mountain West Conference (MW) standings, but on the final day of the regular season, the Broncos clinched the sixth and final spot in the MW Championship tournament.
After upsetting the No. 3 seed San Diego State 1-0 and beating out No. 2 seed Fresno State in penalty kicks 6-5, Boise State earned their way to the championship game against New Mexico. However, the match ended in an unfortunate loss for the Broncos.
“When you look at a whole season it’s usually a roller coaster of opportunity and emotion,” said head coach Jim Thomas. “An individual 90 minutes is no different. Today we went down early, then came back. Everything seems to be refined down into a 90-minute period. That’s why we all love the game, because of the drama. I’m just proud of how we responded in the game.”
In the first 15 minutes, the Lobos took control of the match with three shots on goal. The Broncos did well at protecting their territory, but in the 33rd minute, the Lobos put one past senior goalkeeper Sydney Smith.
Photo by Claire Keener | The Arbiter
In the second half, the Broncos showed a fight with three shots on goal in the first three minutes.
It came down to the 79th minute for Boise State to come back and make a play. Junior midfielder Morgan Stone scored a goal off an assist by freshman forward Carly Cross.
The match was sent into overtime after sophomore forward Mia Burns attempted to score a deflected ball off her shoulder but rolled wide of the net.
In the opening minute of overtime, the MW Offensive Player of the Year, Jadyn Edwards scored for the Lobos bringing the Broncos’ 2021 season to a close.
Boise State women’s soccer finished their season with an overall record of 11-7-4 and their fifth straight trip to the MW tournament.
“We have championship DNA in this program, and we’ll continue to develop our players with the idea of being in big matches and being able to handle that moment the way we handled it today,” Thomas said. “The championship DNA has been here for a number of years now and we will continue to breed that.”
