Cougar Comeback Falls Short against Huskies

PULLMAN, Wash. – The Washington State women’s soccer team (8-7-4, 2-6-3) lost to the Washington Huskies, 3-2, Saturday afternoon in the Boeing Apple Cup Series. The rescheduled match had four-first half goals, as the in-state rivals battled to a halftime draw, before Washington scored the game-winning goal in the 70th minute to secure the win.
 
The Cougars jumped out to the early lead, scoring their third-fastest goal of the season when junior Margie Detrizio headed home the opening goal off a corner kick from senior Grayson Lynch. The goal was Detrizio’s team-leading 11th of the season, and put the Cougars ahead less than 10 minutes into the contest.
 
The Huskies would respond in the 17th minute when a long delivery from UW’s Shae Holmes bounced between Cougar defenders and found Mckenzie Weinert who struck the ball first-time and leveled the game.
 
Washington State continued to apply pressure to the Huskies’ defense, putting up 11 first-half shots, including the Cougars’ second goal in the 31st minute. WSU freshman Lily Boyden netted her second goal of the season and gave Wazzu a 2-1 lead when Detrizio played a square ball across the UW goal and into the path of Boyden. The Salt Lake City native finished the chance at the far post and past the diving Washington goalkeeper.
 
Less than eight minutes later, the Huskies equalized courtesy of leading scorer Summer Yates. WSU goalkeeper Nadia Cooper jumped out to make the initial save before UW’s Kelsey Branson played the ball back into the area where Weinhert found Yates for the 3-yard finish into the empty net.
 
In the match, Cooper made six saves, including an outstretched dive in the 43rd minute to keep the score level into the break.
 
Returning from halftime, Washington pressed forward, outshooting the Cougars by seven shots in the second half. The winning chance came in the 70th minute as Kelsey Branson tip-toed along the WSU backline and a well-timed pass from Claudia Longo found Branson on the run.
 
With just Cooper to beat less than 10 yards out, Branson finished the game-winner and gave Washington its first win in Pullman since 1996 and ended WSU’s hopes of a postseason berth.
 
The Saturday match, originally scheduled for Friday evening, was…