A shutout on a windy, cold and snowy day wasn’t what the Idaho State soccer team had in mind for its match with Weber State on Sunday.

But unfortunately that’s how the Bengals’ season ended.

The Wildcats, who finished second in the Big Sky Conference standings, got three goals from Grace Kirby and shut down the ISU attack, 3-0, at Davis Field. With the loss, the Bengals finished in seventh place, one point behind Northern Arizona for the last berth in the conference postseason tournament.

“Yesterday was disappointing,” noted Bengal head coach Dustin Downey. “A tough way for the season to end. Not that there is ever a good way.”

Despite the loss to the Wildcats, Downey felt his team was good enough to make the playoffs this year. He was facing Weber State without nine players due to injury and other issues.

“Not how you’d like to go into an important last game of the season,” said Downey.

ISU knew the Wildcats were a good attacking team and it went into the contest with some adjustments in strategy to try to contain them. Idaho State held Weber to six shots in the first half, but when Kirby scored in the 41st minute, the Bengals had to get more aggressive in the second half.

“We looked to make a push and so changed some things up at halftime to try and get a goal back,” said Downey. “But the second goal they got deflated us, and took the wind out of our sails.”

ISU wound up with only seven shots in the contest — five in the second half, and only one on goal.

The loss ends the Bengals’ season at 5-8-4 overall, and 2-4-2 in Big Sky play. It was the most wins by an ISU team since 2016, when the Bengals went 7-13, and it gave Downey, his staff and the players renewed enthusiasm for the future.

“We had more positive results than losses with five wins and four draws,” said Downey, who completed his fourth season at the ISU helm. “We tied Boise State this season − it had been a long time since we had a positive result against them. We tied Oregon State. We tied Idaho and NAU, all significant results since my arrival.”

Senior midfielder Saydree Cooke led the team with six assists, sixth most in ISU history, 48 shots (12th most in a season) and 20 shots on goal (15th most in a season).

Freshman goalkeeper Hannah Wieler started all 17 matches and recorded five shutouts, tied for sixth most in a season. She’s also now tied for eighth in ISU career shutouts after just one season.

Redshirt sophomore Samantha Fenske scored two game-winning goals this year, tied for 12th in team history.

Senior Mary Za and sophomore Talia Coury led the team with three goals each. Coury missed the Weber State game while attending the Mexican U-23 Youth National Team camp.

Cooke, Isabella Winton, Stephanie Roper and Fenske each added two goals apiece. Last year, the Bengals scored a total of only nine goals, and only two players had more than one goal.

“We should be deserving of a few all-conference players this season,” Downey said. “I’ve sent in my nominations. Hopefully the other coaches in the league saw what we did this year and will give them some votes.”

You never know what the transfer portal will bring, but the Bengals should return a solid foundation if all the eligible players return.

“Overall, I’m really proud of the season we had and the progress we continue in making Idaho State soccer relevant again,” said Downey. “We just keep getting better every year. We only lose three seniors from this team, so next year is going to be fun.”