WSU soccer continued its undefeated season with two wins this week. The Cougs defeated San Diego State 3-0 on Sept. 2 in San Diego and Hawaii 7-0 on Sept. 5 at home.  The match against San Diego State was the Cougars’ first away match of the season. 

Action in the match against the Aztecs started out early with two shots by the Cougars in the first 5 minutes of the match. In the 16th minute, fifth-year midfielder Sydney Studer, assisted by junior forward Enzi Broussard, scored the first goal of the night.

The goal was the first goal at WSU for Studer. From there, the Cougars continued to dominate, attempting 19 total shots during the match while the Aztecs managed just three shots. Despite taking many shots, the next goal of the match would not come until well into the second half.

“Again, we left some things out there as far as goals,” head coach Todd Shulenberger said.

The Aztecs’ defense managed to hold up until the final minutes of the match. In the 85th minute, fifth-year Elyse Bennett assisted junior midfielder Grayson Lynch on a goal. It was Lynch’s first goal of the season. 

Lynch did not waste any time after that, using an Aztec’s miscue just outside of the 18-yard box to take a shot, scoring another goal just minutes later and cementing the Cougars’ win. The victory was the first road win for the Cougs since they defeated Colorado 1-0 in overtime on March 27.

“Great win. Great team win,” Shulenberger said. “Road wins aren’t easy. To come out down here for our first road test of the year was a good one.” 

The match marked fifth-year Brianna Alger’s season debut after she missed the majority of the spring season after suffering a knee injury 40 minutes into the first match of the season. The win improved WSU to a 2-3 all-time record against the Aztecs.   

Back at home against Hawaii, the Cougars dominated with their largest margin of victory since 2002. In less than 15 minutes, WSU scored three goals against the Rainbow Wahine. Bennett and Broussard assisted junior midfielder MacKenzie Frimpong-Ellertson to the first goal just 2 minutes into the match.  

Lynch scored the second goal for the Cougars 5 minutes into the match and junior defender Bridget Rieken sealed the third goal. The first period was the only time Hawaii would take any shots, with three total shots during the match. 

The Cougars continued to attack, with 15 total shots in the first period but did not manage to score again until the second period. Nearly an hour into the match, Bennett scored the fourth goal for WSU. Just one minute later, Bennett, assisted by Broussard, scored once again. It was her third goal of the season. 

Sophomore forward Margie Detrizio scored her first goal of the season for the Cougs in the 65th minute. The final goal of the night would come in the 80th minute from Rieken. It was Rieken’s second of the match and of her career with the Cougs.

With the win, WSU improved to 8-0-0 all-time against Hawaii. Bennett moved to 10th on WSU all-time scoring list with her 19th career goal. Pulver played her 81st career match moving into a tie for fourth all-time in matches played. 

Once again, the home crowd supporting the Cougars was packed, Shulenberger said. 

“Pullman is turning it out for us here with the crowd. I mean, the Sunday match was packed. So I appreciate everyone’s support for our team,” he said. 

Next up for the Cougars is a home match against Seattle at 7 p.m. Sept. 9. The match can be viewed in person at the Lower Soccer Field or online on the Pac-12 network with stats provided live by StatBroadcast.