Washington State (4-1-1) managed to survive a shootout out with a surprisingly physical Cal Poly (2-5) squad on Sunday afternoon with a 3-2 victory. The Cougars needed a late goal to take their first, and only, lead of the match.

What turned out to be the game winning goal for Washington State came on a beautiful shot from Grayson Lynch in the 74th minute. Lynch got the ball out near the top left corner of the box with no one around and fired off a shot to the top right corner of the net. There was absolutely nothing that McKenzie Samuel could do.

With a 3-2 lead the Washington State attack found another gear and kept up the pressure. The Cougs pushed hard to keep the ball on the Mustang’s side of the pitch.

Cal Poly would take the ball back to the other side of the pitch and earn its fifth corner kick in the 78th minute. But the Mustangs weren’t able to capitalize as WSU cleared it back out to midfield. 

In the final ten minutes, the Mustangs pressed hard and we’re able to generate a couple of turnovers off of poor passes. But we’re unable to generate any real chances with their attack as Washington State was able to run out the clock.

In the 63rd minute Sydney had a long pass that was just off target, which sucked because the Cougs had the numbers advantage. That came as a result of the Cougars ability to keep possession of the ball. But it was still frustrating to see WSU struggle to put the ball into the net.

A messy offensive possession in the 66th minute resulted in Cal Poly kicking the ball out of bounds. On the inbounds play the pass got broken up and kicked out to near midfield. It resulted in another throw in but the WSU offense couldn’t generate space from the defenders which led to a header that was well above the cross bar.

Samuel won a one-on-one situation with Detrizio when she received a beautiful feed but couldn’t get the ball past the goalie in the 68th minute. It was the veteran keeper’s tenth save of the match. About a minute later the Cougs got a corner kick but couldn’t capitalize as it went out of bounds off of a Mustangs’ player.

A minute later WSU had its ninth corner kick. But Sydney’s header was wide right. The Cougar defense played aggressively off of the goal kick but almost got burnt when a Cal Poly player got behind the defense and they were forced to clear it off out of bounds.

Out of the halftime locker room, Boyden went down the middle with the ball before she sent off a shot that was easily saved. Cal Poly responded with an offensive possession that saw Cooper pick off a pass that crossed in front of her.

A back and forth starch of possession for the next five minutes came to an end when Megan Hansen put a penalty kick in the back of the net in the 52nd minute to make it 2-1 Mustangs.

Washington State did it’s best to respond on the next offensive possession, but it was another relatively easy save for Samuel. While the Cougars kept taking shots on goal, but couldn’t convert. This included a situation where Detrizio got ahead of the defense with the goal keeper out of the net but she couldn’t capitalize.

Fortunately for Washington State, Lindsey Turner’s first goal as a Cougar equalized the score at two, in the 56th minute, came a few seconds after Detrizio’s missed opportunity.

Detrizio missed kicked a pass in the 30th minute that was easily intercepted and cleared out by Cal Poly’s defense. About a minute later another opportunity for the Cougars ended with a foul on Washington State. This failure to capitalize turned into a picked off pass and shot to the upper right corner by Olivia Ortiz that was just out of reach for Copper in the 31st minute for the first goal of the game.

Less than a minute later freshmen Lily Boyden put an equalizer the top right corner of the net. It was her first career goal.

The Cougs attempted to keep up the pressure for the final nine minutes of the first half but they were unable to convert on the offensive opportunities. What was a problem was a turnover turned into a lengthy Cal Poly possession; fortunately, the defense managed to hold and get it back to the offense.

Boyden fired off another shot in the 40th minute but it was an easy save for Samuel. About 30 seconds later she got another opportunity but lost control of the ball near the line and it went out of bounds.

In the 43rd minute Washington State had three shots in less than 15 seconds and not a single one of them found the back of the net. It was a fitting way to cap off the final two minutes of an insanely frustrating first half for the Cougs.

The Mustang’s first opportunity in roughly (in the 28th minute) three minutes came off of another corner kick which gave the Cougs a chance to get set defensively. It went out of bounds as resulted in a goal kick WSU.

Sydney got passed her defender and fired off a shot at the goal. But Samuel got her hands up to stall the Cougar offensive attack in the 19th minute. About 30 seconds later WSU got a corner kick that turned into a header on the left side of the goal, but it was a relatively easy save for the Mustang’s keeper.

Detrizio made some noise in the 15th minute but Cal Poly’s defense kept her at bay. The Mustangs responded with their own favorable opportunity but the WSU defense got back into position quickly to force the ball out of bounds. Cal Poly failed to convert on the corner kicks that resulted from the defensive stand as Washington State cleared the ball out fairly quickly.

The first ten minutes of the match saw WSU pick up a pair of corner kicks but fail to convert on either opportunity. At the start of the 10th minute, they got a good look but Hernandez-Reperza’s shot was too high. 45 seconds later Lynch fired off a shot that was off target. Neither were particularly well defended by the Mustangs and resulted more from rushed shots.

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