Cougar girls roll out two wins on the pitch

PULLMAN - The Washington State University women's soccer team scored six goals in two games to remain undefeated in its 2023 campaign.

Thursday saw WSU defeat Eastern Washington University, 3-1.

It took three goals in the second half of the game to earn the home victory in front of one of the biggest crowds ever at The Lower Soccer Field.

The game Sunday against Texas A&M once again saw WSU claw from behind to win.

This time, the Cougar women were behind after 14 minutes, but quickly responded to level the game before taking control in the second half, scoring two goals to earn the 3-2 victory.

In the home game against Eastern, the Eagles scored after just 10 minutes.

They capitalized on a mistake from the WSU defense, and scored the opening goal against the run of play to take the lead.

WSU was dominating possession most of the first half, but could not produce the final piece to score a goal.

"Ol Reliable" senior forward Margie Detrizio scored her first goal of the 2023 campaign in the 63rd minute of the game to equal the score at 1.

Less than 2 minutes later, the Cougars would get their second goal.

Freshman Reagan Kotschau got her first goal as a Cougar.

The finishing touch was put on in the 76th minute.

Naomi Clark, another freshman, scored her first collegiate goal to secure the 3-1 victory on the Cougars' opening night.

This was the fourth time in program history that two WSU freshman scored in the opening game of the season; the last time it happened was in 2015.

Todd Shulenberger picked up his 90th win as coach, 10 shy of the century mark.

With Detrizio's goal, she is now one shy of cracking WSU's Top 10 list of goal scorers.

Sunday's game against the Aggies was one where the Cougs had to come from behind again.

They were out-shot by the Aggies, but still managed to secure the 3-2 victory.

In the 14th minute Texas A&M got on the score sheet with the early lead, but did not hold it for long.

Clark would score her second goal of the season in the 22nd minute.

With the goal, Clark becomes the first freshman since 2013 to score in her first two games.

The rest of the first half did not see much action, and both sides entered halftime with a goal.

In the second half, there would be three goals scored, including a penalty from each side.

In the 53rd minute, fifth-year Grayson Lynch converted the penalty kick to give WSU the 2-1 lead early in the second half.

In the 60th minute, the WSU defense would give away a penalty of its own, which was converted by the Aggies to level the game once again.

The local women kept fighting and pushing to secure the win, and they achieved it in the 79th minute, after Detrizio played a great ball to Lynch to score her second goal of the game, and give WSU the win to improve to 2-0 on the year.

With the win, junior goalkeeper Nadia Cooper earned her 20th career win, just four shy of fifth in school history.

With an assist in both games this season, Detrizio is now one shy of being in the top-10 list for assists, as well as goals.

Also, with the penalty converted by WSU, it was the first time WSU had a penalty kick since November of 2021.

The Cougar women play today, Thursday, Aug. 24, on the road.

They head to Portland to take on the Pilots.

The game is set to kick-off at 7 p.m.