CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University women's soccer team got its revenge against No. 4 seed Montana in the program's first ever Big Sky Conference Championship victory, with a 1-0 shutout on Wednesday, Nov. 2.

With its first postseason win in the books, No. 5 seed Eastern looks to its semifinal match on Friday, Nov. 4 against No. 1 seed Idaho. The match will be held on the EWU Soccer Field starting at 1 p.m. Pacific Time. No. 2 Sacramento State will play No. 3 Northern Arizona earlier in the day starting at 10 a.m.

Not unlike most of its games this season, EWU came out with an attacking mindset and the goal of getting on the board first. Junior Chloe Williams answered the call in the 13th minute by striking a beautiful shot past the diving hands of the UM goalkeeper, giving EWU the 1-0 lead.

Williams' goal ended up being all that was needed out of the Eagles' offense, as the defense did their part in the remaining 77 minutes of the game. Eastern kept the Montana offense in-check and prevented any good looks at the goal. EWU would hold onto its one point lead, and win the quarterfinal match of the Big Sky tournament with a score of 1-0.

Win-Loss Record                                                                                                                      
Eastern Washington improves to 12-4-3 to tie the school's single-season record in wins, while Montana ends its season at 9-6-5.

What it Means
For the first time in the program's 19-year history, EWU won a match in the Big Sky tournament. The shutout over the Grizzlies also served as redemption for the Eagles. Montana took seeding over Eastern with a 3-2 overtime win in Cheney last Friday (Oct. 29), but EWU fought back and pulled out the victory on the postseason stage.

Keys to the Game
Making her second career tournament start, senior Mallory Taylor played a shut-down game between the posts. She kept Montana scoreless through 90 minutes of action by winning tough contests for the ball and shutting down UM's corner kicks.

Top Performers
Two-time Big Sky Conference Player of the Year Chloe Williams scored the only points of the game on her 15th goal of the season. Overall she tallied three shots, putting two on goal.

Goalkeeper Mallory Taylor recorded a clean sheet for the sixth time this season and pulled in seven saves.

Turning Point
During a fast break in the 13th minute of the contest, junior Savannah Hoekstra found Chloe Williams up-field by splitting two Grizzlies defenders. The pass was perfectly received by Williams on the left side of the field, and she dribbled by one defender before sinking the shot into the opposite side of the net.

Team Highlights
The Eastern backline comprised of Megan Spataro, M'Kenna Hayes, Laci Rennaker, and Allison Raniere owned the second half of the game on defense. They kept the Montana offense at bay and were critical to the eventual shutout.

Notables
Today's quarterfinal match will go down as EWU's first ever in the postseason. The Eagles advance to play in their first-ever Big Sky Soccer Championship Semifinal since the format was extended from four to six teams.

Eastern holds a positive matchup against Idaho in the upcoming semifinals. Earlier in the year, EWU defeated the Vandals by a score of 2-1 at home. The Eagles are 2-0-0 in their last two matches against UI on their home pitch.

Chloe Williams scored her 15th goal of the season, the top mark in the conference. She also improves her career records to 32 goals and 81 points in her three seasons.

Mallory Taylor tallied seven saves, improving her season mark to 61. She is 10-3-2 on the year with six shutouts. In her two-year career at EWU, she has 146 saves, good for seventh on the program's all-time list.

In the first quarterfinal match of the Big Sky Championship on Wednesday (Nov. 2), Northern Arizona defeated Northern Colorado 2-1. NAU will move on to the second round to play Sacramento State on Friday (Nov. 4).

Bodnar Bites
On first postseason win: "It's a credit to our kids. We had a tough one on Friday and we were trying to find ourselves a bit towards the end of the year. They worked extremely hard, and just followed through with the game plan we had. We played a little differently today than we have the rest of the year, but our kids did exactly what we asked them to do and fought hard."

On Williams' goal: "It was what we were looking for. We wanted to counter on Montana and make sure we weren't spread wide open. Savvy played a great ball, a 45-yard one across the field, and saw Chloe. Those two have played together for a long time, and it was a great pass from Savvy and good finish from Chloe."

What's Next
The Eagles will face-off with the No. 1 seed Idaho Vandals in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Championship on Friday, Nov. 4 starting at 1 p.m. Pacific Time. It will be played at the EWU Soccer Field in Cheney, Washington.

For more information, and exclusive content, on the Eastern Washington soccer team, follow @EWUSoccer on Twitter.