PULLMAN, Wash. — The WSU women’s soccer team has advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament after blanking the Montana Grizzlies 3-0.
Marin Whieldon opened the scoring on a pass from Mykiaa Minniss before Sydney Pulver doubled the Cougar’s lead on a penalty kick.
Grayson Lynch rounded out the Cougars’ commanding lead as Montana struggled to generate any offense of their own, managing only two shots on goal for the entire game.
“We were in complete control of the game, they had two shots to our 20,” WSU Head Coach Todd Shulenberger said. “What’s concerning is we forced some things tonight. We tried to play too much down the middle at times. You know they played five in the back sometimes six so it made it difficult so credit to them. But we solved it and it took one. I knew once one hit I felt good we could get a couple more.”
With their first victory in the tournament, the Cougars are now in preparation mode for their second-round matchup against the Tennessee. Shulenberger says he and his team are looking forward to the challenge.
“A great team, athletic team, SEC champs, well coached across the board it’ll be a great game,” Shulenberger said. “You know we’ve got to, it’s going to be nice and cold there, we’re used to that so it’ll be a good game.”
Sydney Studer, who earned an assist on Lynch’s goal, shared her coach’s sentiments.
“ For us we are really excited because as you’ve seen a lot of Pac-12 teams are out so we told ourselves we need to come make a statement because we believe we’re just as good as everyone else,” Studer said. “We take it one step at a time and one game at a time and any opponent we study, we work on, and we try to achieve what we can. And, we are ready to flush this game and move on to the next one.”
The Cougars will face off against Tennessee on Friday, Nov. 19 at Regal Stadium In Tennessee.