Washington State Soccer: Cougars Take Down Seattle 4-2 in WCC Opener

The West Coast Conference kicked off their women's soccer schedule Wednesday evening, and the Cougars made a statement, taking down the previously undefeated Seattle Redhawks 4-2. The win gives WSU a 1-0 start to the WCC season, and puts them at 3-3-3 overall, while dropping Seattle to a 4-1-4 overall record.

Washington State was a threat right out of the gate. Jordyn Young fed the ball to Abigail Siddall with some space in the fourth minute of the game, and Siddall made an electric move to get the ball past Seattle goalkeeper Kassidy Kirgan and put the Cougars up 1-0.

After some back and forth, WSU found the net again in the 25th minute, this time courtesy of Audrey Shackelford, who threaded through a pair of Seattle defenders to get the ball into the bottom of the goal.

Seattle put some pressure on over the next 15 minutes, but late in the first half the Redhawks collapsed. A penalty on Taylor Marks in the 43rd minute gave Washington State a Penalty Kick right in front of the goal, and Kiera Mitchell's shot was true. Just over a minute later Journey Middlebourn picked up an Ana De Los Santos pass and put it right into the center of the goal, putting the Cougars up 4-0 headed into half time.

The second half was all about protecting Washington State's lead. Seattle played much more aggressively in the back half of the game, and while Washington State put up their share of shots, burning time seemed to be the focus.

Seattle finally got a goal on the board in the 59th minute, courtesy of Zoe Hopkins. About 20 minutes later Hopkins gave the Seattle faithful some hope, picking up her second goal of the night to get the Redhawks some hope. That was as close as Seattle would get, as the Cougars were able to keep the ball away from their goal and ease the pressure on Zora Standifer, sealing the win.

Washington State has a few days off before one of their toughest challenges of the season. Santa Clara comes to Pullman on Saturday, September 27th, and the Broncos expect to be in the hunt for a WCC title this season. We'll see how the Cougars match up.