Bears come away from Pocatello with 3-1 win, keep unbeaten streak alive

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POCATELLO, IDAHO – The Northern Colorado women's soccer team now has a four-game unbeaten streak after coming into Davis Field and defeating the Idaho State Bengals 3-1.

With the win, the Bears move their record to 8-3-2 overall, 1-0-1 in Big Sky play. The Bengals fell to 5-7-2, 0-1-1 in the Big Sky.

The first half was a good one for the Northern Colorado defense, limiting the Bengals to three shots on goal and not allowing a goal in the half.

The Bears started up the scoring with the only goal of the first half.  JJ Wykstra scored in the 25th minute after receiving a pass from Danielle Birdsall and beating Idaho State goalkeeper Bailey Williams.

"I thought the girls came out and played a pretty great first half," said Northern Colorado head coach Tim Barrera. "JJ (Wykstra) scored a really nice goal from Danielle (Birdsall) and our defense was very good."

The Bengals opened up the second half with a sense of urgency and scored a goal in the 52nd minute when Ryan Lauren scored on a Rachel Strawn throw-in.

From there, Northern Colorado seemed to step up. The Bears answered the Idaho State goal when Brittani Knott scored her third goal of the season in the 70th minute, putting them up 2-1. Birdsall was credited with her second assist of the game, her third of the season.

Birdsall continued her very productive night in the 83rd minute when she scored a goal herself, beating the goalkeeper Williams one-on-one. Knott was credited with the assist. The goal was Birdsall's sixth on the year, second-most on the team.

"Idaho State came out hard in the second half," Barrera said. "But we did a good job of keeping our composure and scoring a couple of nice goals.

"Overall, I thought the team played hard throughout the game. Now we're excited to come home next weekend."

Northern Colorado will look to keep both its unbeaten streak and unblemished Big Sky record intact when it comes back to Jackson Stadium for a three-game home-stand. The Bears' first home Big Sky match comes on Friday, Oct. 15, when they take on Portland State. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.