In the moment, the ebbs and flows of a season are dramatic.
One day, even if its only for an afternoon or an hour, a team can feel like it’s on top of the universe (or at least the Big Sky Conference), but it only takes a nudge here or shove there for all those good feelings to evaporate faster than an in-flight bull rider’s dreams of prize money one second into an eight-second ride.
Follow this timeline: In an exhibition match, Idaho State rocks The College of Idaho 9-0; Boise State visits Pocatello, and despite a rain-soaked Davis Field, the Bengals prevail 2-1 in overtime with Amanda Ellsworth punching in the seventh game-winning goal of her career; ISU takes on Idaho next and in workmanlike fashion, dispose the Vandals 2-0.
At that point, it was Aug. 25., the Bengals sat at 2-0.
But following the rest of that timeline to today: Idaho State is whitewashed by Texas Tech 3-0 in Lubbock. Not a bad loss considering, at the time, the Red Raiders were ranked 23rd in the nation. But Bengals head coach Allison Gibson has subsequently said nothing went right down south. ISU didn’t play its game.
Something about the character of the team fell short.
Continuing the timeline: The summer storms have wreaked havoc on Pocatello’s sewer system, and while the Bengals can play through rain, lightning is a different sort of problem. After two hours, Idaho State and Utah Valley moved to Holt Arena to play.
It was an interesting venue for a soccer game, but Utah Valley took it to ISU, walking away with 4-2 victory.
The Bengals had wanted to use that match as a stepping stone to find the chemistry that had gone missing in Texas.
If nothing else, hosting Utah State last Saturday presented the opportunity to wash out any memories of poor performances from the last two games.
The Bengals treated the match with the Aggies as a big game, and they played like it, too. The intensity was full bore from both sides. The final 45 minutes were fantastic.
(As an aside. Bengal fans, where were you last Saturday? The official attendance for ISU vs. USU was 475. That’s 60 more than the Boise State game which took place after a monster rainstorm, and 150 less than the match against Idaho. Were ISU fans too busy tailgating for the football game that kicked off at 3:05 p.m. later that afternoon? Or was the couch just too inviting on a beautiful early September day?)
Once ISU’s Madeline Gochnour opened the scoring in the 59th minute, the game opened up into a free-flowing, physical affair. Twice, Idaho State jumped on Utah State to lead by a goal and the Aggies — to Gibson’s disbelief — promptly responded both times.
The Bengals wanted, no, needed to sense those feelings of accomplishment they had attained from two early-season victories.
Any chance of that, however, was ripped away when a bogus foul was called on ISU in its own box. It awarded Utah State a penalty kick the Aggies converted, and they walked away with a 3-2 victory.
The foul didn’t go down so well with ISU.
“It’s just so disappointing that that can decide a game,” said senior Lia Margolis after the match.
Idaho State had wanted to wash away the bad mojo that had built up in losses to Texas Tech and Utah Valley, and it nearly happened. But the ultimate result dropped the Bengals to 2-3 overall and blocked those fuzzy feeling from filtering in.
It’s why Gibson was so upset with the call after the game. She had witnessed her squad — a group of girls who had worked through some difficult times — play as hard as they could, and the end result didn’t swing their way through no fault of their own.
“At the end, I said, ‘there’s nothing negative I can say to you guys. I’m so proud of you guys right now.’ They battled back and the soccer gods will take care of us,” Gibson said afterwards.
In the ebbs and flows of a season, Saturday’s loss alone had high highs and low lows.
As it turned out, the final ebb turned out to be the lowest point.
And it comes on the precipice of Idaho State’s longest road trip of the season where the Bengals travel to Honolulu, Hawaii, for matches versus Hawaii and Florida Gulf Coast before playing Wyoming in Laramie.
Whether Idaho State can find a silver lining in the Utah State loss might determine if Saturday’s ebb is the lowest of the season or if it’s just the beginning.
“We improved tremendously from where we were,” Gibson said. “Again, I think if we keep doing the right thing, the game will take care of us.”
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