POCATELLO, Idaho — Junior Ariana Scholten celebrated her birthday in a big way on Sunday, scoring her first goal as a Hornet in the 21st minute to tie the match and help the Sacramento State women's soccer team forge a 1-1 draw at Idaho State.
The result marked the second straight draw for the Hornets, who moved to 4-7-5 overall and 2-2-3 in Big Sky Conference play on the year. Sacramento State, which battled Weber State to a scoreless tie on Friday, matched their total draws from last season, while the three draws in league are the most since the 2019 squad finished 5-0-4 in conference play.
Meanwhile, the Bengals moved to 4-11-2 overall and 2-3-2 in the Big Sky.
It was Idaho State that got on the board first in the 18th minute as Saydree Bell dribbled around her defender and created enough space to fire home a shot across the goalmouth to the left-side netting for the 1-0 lead. It was Bell's fifth goal of the year.
However, it didn't take long for the Hornets to respond as Danna Restom fired a ball from the left side that was pushed into open space by the Bengals' defense. Scholten ran onto the loose ball and fired a left-footed shot that snuck inside the left post to tie the match.
The score was Scholten's second career goal (she had one in her freshman year at San Diego), but her first in the green and gold as she ended a scoreless drought of nearly 195 minutes for the Hornets dating back to a 1-0 win over Eastern Washington.
From there on out, it was the two defensive units that bended, but did not break. Freshman goalkeeper
Izzy Palmatier, who stopped a career-high 10 shots in the draw at Weber State, finished with six first-half saves, but did not face a shot on frame in the second half. She also got some help from the woodwork in the closing minute as Marta Nieto clanged a shot off the right post with 20 seconds remaining in regulation that would have broken the deadlock, but was cleared away from danger.
At the other end, ISU keeper Kelsey Jargstorf stopped four second-half attempts after not facing another shot on goal in the first half — all coming in a span of 3:27 midway through the period.
Idaho State finished with a 21-14 shot advantage, with 14 of those in the first half, while the Bengals put seven of their attempts on goal to five for the Hornets. Freshman
Ellie Farber finished with a team-high four shot attempts, just edging out teammate
Teysha-Ray Spinney-Kuahuia, while Bell had a match-high six shots for Idaho State.
Sacramento State, which currently sits fourth in the Big Sky standings in the race for one of six conference tournament berths, closes out the regular season on Thursday (Oct. 19) at Montana.
