Mia Lane leads the Broncos to a 2-0 Pac-12 start with two braces

Boise State women’s soccer opened conference play last weekend, collecting its first two wins in the Pac-12 season and marking the Broncos eighth-consecutive victory, the longest active streak in the conference.

The Broncos earned a 4-1 win over San Diego State on Thursday night, opening Pac-12 play with a dominant performance highlighted by junior Mia Lane’s first career brace.

Lane’s impact began 14 minutes into the contest when she scored an unassisted goal, leaving the Aztecs racing from behind.

Thirty minutes later, San Diego State’s Victoria Miller converted a penalty kick following a handball in the box, sending the match into halftime tied 1-1.

“At halftime, the look in our players’ eyes as we prepared to come back onto the field showed me something I haven’t seen in a very long time at Boise State,” head coach Jim Thomas said. “It was a group of players with a completely different approach and one that would not be denied. I couldn’t be happier to be a part of their journey.”

The Broncos stepped back on the pitch, reclaiming the lead in the 69th minute when Campbell Wilson found Lane for her second goal of the night and the first brace of her career.

Continuing the momentum, Wilson demanded her own goal two minutes later, converting a free kick and extending the Bronco lead to 3-1.

San Diego State’s errors haunted them when a second yellow card resulted in a red card, ejecting Lily Boudet from the game. Another Aztec foul in the 79th minute provided Boise State’s Olivia Collins an opportunity to seal the Broncos’ first Pac-12 win of the season, 4-1.

Lane commented on her first career brace, pointing to her ties to San Diego and the support of her family in the crowd.

“(My family’s) just pushing me forward, just giving me confidence to take it on to the next games,” Lane said. “Max and Dim have just done great… giving me the confidence to be the best player I can be.”

Lane carried her confidence to the Broncos’ home pitch for their second conference win against Gonzaga, shutting out the Zags 3-0.

A highly aggressive back-and-forth spanned all 45 minutes of the first half with no points to show from either team. While the Broncos held a 7-3 advantage in shots, the Bulldogs led in saves, 4-2.

Boise State finally punched through in the 56th minute when Madie Donovan fired through the Zags, straight into the bottom-left corner of the goal.

“Our team thrives off of those (aggressive) games,” Donovan said, “We’ve been waiting to play a game like this…We just had to keep fighting and keep going, and we knew they’d fall.”

In the 86th minute, Lane fired a rocket straight into the top-left corner of the goal as three Zags chased her down.

Determined to protect the win, Lane secures her second brace of conference play with 30 seconds left in the match, chipping the ball over the goalkeeper, and guarding a 3-0 victory for the Broncos.

“I saw my vision, I saw the goal, and that’s where I knew I wanted to go,” Lane said. “I wanted to shoot it.”

Boise State travels to play Fresno State on Oct. 8, with kickoff set for 8 p.m.