Bulldogs take two over weekend

By Ryan Smith

Struggling with four straight losses and a month on the road, the women’s soccer team proved it was still a threat this weekend by shutting out Nevada 3-0 in Reno on Sunday and dominating Boise State in a 5-2 rout at Bulldog Stadium on Friday.

Fresno State had its best offensive performance of the year Sunday, tying a program-record 27 shots and 17 shots on goal. Nevada had just four shots.

Sophomore midfielder Eriko Yoshiki scored two goals in the first half and sophomore forward Kortney Lewis capped the scoring with a goal in the second half.

Fresno State dominated possession of the ball in the first half Sunday, out shooting Nevada 15-1. Fresno State had several other opportunities to score in the second half, but Nevada goalie Megan Tarpenning stepped up with an impressive 14 saves.

Fresno State’s two-game winning streak began with a strong outing from the entire team Friday night against the Broncos.

Fresno State took the lead early when Lewis scored off a cross from sophomore midfielder Barbara Davis 20 minutes into the first half. Fresno State scored again minutes later after senior midfielder Erin Sayegusa crossed the ball to sophomore forward Katri Nokso-Koivisto, who blasted it past the hands of Boise State’s goalie Kim Parker.

Attempting to regain control of the first half, Boise State fought to score on four consecutive corner kicks but was unsuccessful. Boise State would not have a better opportunity to score the rest of the first half.

“ When we score first, we just keep rolling,” Sayegusa said. “You never know what’s going to happen next. We pull out some good stuff.”

Motivated by their first half dominance of Boise State, the Bulldogs scored three more times in the second half. Sayegusa broke away on a pass from Davis and capitalized on an empty net after side-stepping past Parker six minutes into the second half.

Three minutes later, senior defender Kristyn Kellogg chipped the ball into the net off a free kick from Sayegusa.

With about 10 minutes remaining in the second period, Boise State finally came to life and scored two goals within four minutes. But, the two-goal rally would prove to have only a tepid effect on the outcome of the game.

Freshman midfielder Cortney Sobrero sealed Fresno State’s victory in the final minutes of the game with an open-goal shot after junior forward Lisa Esteves’ header was deflected off Parker.

“ We definitely needed tonight,” coach Stacey Welp said of her team breaking its losing streak Friday. “What’s done is done and you can’t do anything else about it except put together a performance like they did tonight. And it was good to see it come from everybody.”

Coming out of its last week on the road, Welp said the team’s focus was on just finishing and getting home. It was a big confidence booster for the team to be at home, train together and get refocused, Welp said.