Fresno State women’s soccer lost 1-0 in its conference opener to Boise State at the Bulldog Soccer Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 27.

The Bulldogs controlled the momentum for the majority of the game, winning the possession battle at a 60% clip. It did not, however, translate to Fresno State scoring.

The Bulldogs had a chance to score in the first half, four minutes into the game when defender Averee Campos took the ball upfield to score, dodging and taking on contact from the Bronco defense. Campos had an open lane to shoot but just missed to the far left.

The Bronco defense had to be ultra aggressive and foul to slow the Bulldogs down, getting the crowd rowdy in the process, while the crowd cheered and stomped their feet chanting. 

The Broncos couldn’t answer as they didn’t get possession very often throughout the first half.

More and more fouls from the Broncos came rolling in as the Bulldogs could not follow up on  Campos’ shot.

Not wanting to miss out on the action, in the first 15 minutes of the game the first and only yellow card was awarded to Bulldog defender Julia Hardwick.

Finally, the Bronco’s offensive got some life as midfielder Morgan Padour took a free kick, but couldn’t get it past goalkeeper Ashton Conely, saving the score and leading to a corner kick.

Both teams took turns moving the ball and taking shots but nothing came of it.

Substitutions were made throughout the first half on both sides. Head coach Brian Zwaschka needed to reorganize his team as the first half was coming to an end.

“We had to clean up a few things, but the game was going 100 miles an hour both ways,” Zwaschka said. “The challenge for the team at halftime was to deal with that chaos, but then show composure and actually play the way we wanted to play.” 

The Bulldogs and Broncos weren’t able to do much as the second half of the game started. 

Fifty-three minutes in, the Bulldogs had another missed opportunity as forward Ciara Wilson passed to Bulldog forward Kaelyn Miller and attempted a bottom left shot. The shot stood no chance as Bronco goalkeeper Genevieve Crenshaw caught the ball and saved what would be the first Bulldog score since their game on Sept. 12. 

The Broncos didn’t have a lot of opportunities to be on offense but as the game went on, their offense came alive.

Fifty-five minutes in, the Broncos needed a counterattack. They would get one in the form of their goalkeeper Crenshaw.

Crenshaw would take the shot from Miller and kick the ball to the Bulldog side of the field to Carly Cross.

Cross took the ball, she shoots, then she scored the only point in the game, giving her unlikely teammate Crenshaw an assist despite being a goalkeeper.

The Bulldogs were now trailing and needed a good chance to get the game leveled. 

Ten minutes after the first goal was made Wilson helped set up a shot for Campos, who missed for the second time in the game. 

The Bulldogs were hoping for a comeback but their shots were met with no answer. 

With three minutes left in the game and a last attempt to score, Bulldog midfielder Hayden Crotty-Romero went for the shot and missed. 

The Bulldogs’ last glimmer of hope left the audience deflated, sighing in sadness as the game ended with a score of 1-0. 

The final score being 1-0 gives the Bulldogs a 0-1 record in the conference. Zwaschka knows the key for the team is to get back to form to start hot in their next game. 

“It’s the first game of the conference play,” Zwaschka said. “We wanted to get off on a better start but that’s a good team and we’re just gonna get back to work.” 

Fresno State will host No. 17 Utah State at the Bulldog Soccer Stadium this Sunday at noon.