Sept. 18, 2006

Coming Up (*Big Sky Conference):

·         W. Soccer - September 22 - vs #21 Long Beach State - 4 p.m.

·         W. Soccer- September 28 - at Utah Valley State - 3 p.m.

·         W. Soccer - September 30 - at Utah State - 9:30 a.m.

 Previous Action (*Big Sky Conference):

·         W. Soccer - September 15 - at #20 Southern California - L 2-0

·         W. Soccer - September 17 - vs Oregon - L 1-0

Team Highlights:

·         The Eastern Washington University women's soccer team hosts No. 21 Long Beach State Friday (Sept. 22) at the Sports and Recreation Center in Cheney. The 49ers (7-1-0) were ranked No. 23 last week, according to the Soccer Buzz top 30 rankings, but moved up with a victory over Tennessee-Martin. This is second game in the past week versus a top 30 team for the Eagles.

·         With losses to No. 20 USC 2-0 and Oregon 1-0, the Eagles are now (1-6-1) on the year and 0-10 all time vs Pacific 10 Conference teams.

·         Eastern used 19 players in the game against Oregon and a season-high 26 players in the game against Birmingham-Southern on Sept. 3.   

·         The Eagles tied unbeaten Nevada 1-1 on Sept. 10 after two overtime periods. Eastern's only goal in the game came from Shelly Ikerd and was assisted by Tiera Como. Eastern out-shot the Wolfpack 19-13 for the match

·         The first and lone win for the Eagles came on Sept. 3 when the Eagles defeated Birmingham-Southern 4-2. Four different eagles scored in that game and three other players had assists. Eastern scored all four of their goals in a 25 minute span, and it was just enough to hold off the Panthers.

·         As of Sept. 13, Eastern was leading the Big Sky in saves, averaging 9.83 per game.

Individual Highlights:

·         After recording 11 saves against USC and seven against Oregon, Eagle goalkeeper and returning Big Sky Defender of the Year Tiera Como has 343 saves in her career at Eastern. She is now only seven saves behind the school record of 350 set by Katie Grothkopp from 1999-2002. Hosting Long Beach State this week, Como looks to break the record. She already owns school records for career shutouts (10), and goals against average (1.44).

·         As of Sept. 13, Melissa Guthrie is tied for second in the Big Sky in goals (3) and tied for fourth in goals per game with (.50).

Comments from Head Coach George Hageage:

·         On Long Beach State Game: "Long Beach State is now ranked and they weren't when we scheduled them. So, wow, we are playing a lot of ranked teams. But I think it is great for our program to get that kind of exposure. I know the players enjoy playing teams that are ranked. It is another challenge for us so we look forward to it."

·         On Playing Pac-10 No. 20 USC: "I thought we did extremely well. We knew it was going to be a tough week. We had a good game plan and executed it well, and I thought we did really well against a team that is very, very dangerous."

·         On Playing Pac-10 Team Oregon at Home: "Unfortunately we didn't get back from USC until Saturday about 10 p.m. so it was almost like a road game for us against Oregon. Everything was fairly similar statistically. We were right there. We had a number of opportunities to score that we should have finished. And I thought we played really well."

·         More on the Two Pac-10 Teams:" These are two Pac-10 teams, so they are well coached. USC has four players that played on the national teams, so it was a good experience for our kids. I was happy with the results. Obviously we would like to win, but if we can lose and still play well I'm happy with the result."

·         On the Tough Pre-season and How It's Preparing You For the Big Sky:" I think we're getting better every game. Last year we played Oregon to open up the season and I think we had five shots to their 26 --  they were clearly a better team last year. And this year, I felt like we were every bit as good at this point. I think it's definitely preparing us."

·         On Utilizing Lots of Players at Home Games: "Actually we are really deep. I think that is a huge advantage for us, especially for home games. Obviously on the road we can only take 18. For the home games, you might not see as many as you saw in the previous games but you will definitely see a number of players getting time. I think that is to our advantage to do that --  to keep people fresh. We have some speed and a lot of young players now and they can get time."

·         On the Six-day Rest Between Long Beach State and Utah Valley State: "The rest will definitely help. I think it's going to be a good chance for us to sit back and do some more technical things at practice for a couple of days and get back into our game planning for Utah Valley State. So it's going to be good for us for sure."

·         On Como Nearing Career Saves Record: "I don't know if I like that. The good thing is that along with her saves she has had a pretty good save percentage and has had a number of shutouts. So I guess we don't mind it too much. She is an excellent keeper and she will definitely break that record. She will hold a number of records by the time she is done this season."

Links:

·         Big Sky Conference Women's Soccer - http://www.bigskyconf.com/sport_front.asp?sportid=106

·         NCAA Women's Soccer - http://www.ncaasports.com/soccer/womens/

·         Soccer Buzz Top 25 Rankings - http://www.soccerbuzz.com/

·         NSCAA/Adidas Top 25 Coaches Poll - http://www.nscaa.com/cr.php