Idaho State surged late but was unable to overcome a two-goal head start by Wyoming in a 2-1 loss Thursday at Davis Field.

“I saw a lot out of my team tonight,” Bengals coach Allison Gibson said. “I thought we came back really, really strong from our road trip this weekend. I think we made the changes that we needed to make in practice, and I thought that our kids did a really, really good job of battling today.”

Wyoming’s Amber Vokoun opened the scoring early in the game, netting the first goal after Alyssa Murray’s shot was redirected by ISU goalkeeper Laule’a Akana-Phillips. Vokoun collected the rebound just in front of the goal and gave the Cowgirls a lead they never ceded in the 16th minute.

The first half was dominated by the visitors as they registered 11 shots to Idaho State’s four and forced Akana-Phillips to make four saves. Cristina Salazar took the goal box for the Cowgirls in the first and tallied two saves.

The Bengals offense came out on a mission in the second half, outshooting Wyoming 14-8 and forcing the new goaltender for Wyoming to make seven saves.

“I thought they did a tremendous job of trying to play-make out of the back as opposed to just playing long balls forward,” Gibson said.

Shortly into the second half, Wyoming (3-0-1) tallied another goal from the foot of Sekoya Romero. Alyssa Murray crossed the ball from the left and Romero punted in the shot from 5 yards out on the right to give the Cowgirls a 2-0 lead in the 49th minute.

Minutes later, ISU’s Makena Bambei launched a shot from outside the 18-yard box, which was saved by Hannah Lee near the left post. The Bengals’ Brooke Kortekaas came swarming in and appeared to cut the lead in half with a goal, but the assistant referee waved it off and signaled an offside violation.

Idaho State was able to secure a goal in the 82nd minute as freshman Delaney Johnston redirected a ball from just in front of the goaltender to the left half of the net. Bambei and Lauren McGahie assisted Johnston on the goal.

The play was a career-marker for all involved. It was the first ISU goal for Johnston, the first Bengals assist for McGahie and the second assist for Bambei.

Bambei led the Bengals with five shots, three on goal, and forward Meaghan Bare added four with one on goal. Johnston and Cristina Krieger both had two shots with both registering on goal.

This was the first game all season the Bengals featured one goalkeeper. Akana-Phillips played both halves and tallied a career-high five saves.

The Bengals had 18 shots, two assists, four points and 10 shots on goal, which are all season highs.

Idaho State (0-3) travels to Provo, Utah, to take on the BYU Cougars on Saturday.