Sac State women’s soccer ended its home season on a disappointing note with an overtime loss to Idaho State at Hornet Field on Thursday evening. Saturday’s game at Weber State will be the deciding factor in making the Big Sky Conference playoffs at the end of this month.

“Saturday we must end our season with a win,” said Sac State head coach Sandra Asimos after the Idaho defeat. “Four wins will most likely be enough to make the playoffs and we had three already going into this game. But it is going to be very close.”

Seniors Kiley van Orman, Krissy Collyer and Lisa Casey were presented with flowers before their last home game for the Hornets. Unfortunately they didn’t go out on a winning note as the Hornets lost their second home game of the season, going down by two goals to one. They are now 3-3 in the conference and 8-5-2 overall.

“It’s been a great home season for us, but unfortunately we couldn’t keep it going for another day. It would have been nicer to tie than to lose,” Asimos said. It was seven minutes into the second period of overtime when Idaho State got a break. A pass into the box was not dealt with sufficiently by the Hornet defense and Shannon Blaker was able to pick out Carissa Raveaux at along the back post and she scored the goal.

The Bengals had taken the lead over 100 minutes earlier when Blaker set up Korbie Vaughan at the edge of the penalty area and her long-range strike flew over Amy Seely and into the net.

However, Sac State had equalized within 32 seconds. A long cross from Desirae Feria looked to be floating into the goalkeeper’s arms until Lisa Wrightsman stepped in to flick the ball home at ten minutes.

The rest of the first half was largely without incident as neither side was able to create a genuine opportunity. Sac State started the second period stronger, as both Wrightsman and Feria had one-on-one opportunities with the goalkeeper. But the team failed to convert on the chances.

Idaho State almost won the game near the end, when a free kick by Blaker was met by the head of Brooke Alton and her looping header hit the crossbar and went over.

In the first period of overtime the Hornets couldn’t make anything out of the half-chances that they got. Naomi Ennis then cleared off the Hornet line in the second period after a cross from Idaho’s Blaker before Blaker set up Raveaux for the game winner in the 112th minute.

“I thought we played well out there today and we had a couple of one-on-one chances to end the game early on,” Asimos said after the game. “We outshot Idaho (22 to 17) and the defense played very well right through the game until that one breakdown right at the end.” The Weber State game will take place in Weber State at 3.30pm on Saturday.

The Hornets hope to qualify the playoffs, which will take place between the 26th and 29th of October.