CHENEY, Wash. – With two of its quickest goals all season, the Eastern Washington University women's soccer team ran away with its first Big Sky Conference win of the 2016 season, in a 3-0 shutout against Idaho State on Friday, Sept. 23.

Eastern left Idaho State stunned in the opening minute, as the scoreless tie was gone in 60 seconds thanks to a goal by junior Chloe Williams. Just 49 seconds into the game, junior Aimie Inthoulay kicked the ball up to the charging Williams who then sent it passed the Bengals' goalkeeper from 10 yards out. However, the Eagles were not finished, as sophomore Jenny Chavez converted a corner from Inthoulay with a header at the three minute mark, giving Eastern a 2-0 lead.

Freshman Saige Lyons broke into the scoring column late with a goal in the 83rd minute, dashing any remaining hopes of a comeback for ISU. The Eagle defense would continue to hold the Bengals scoreless for the remainder of the match, earning the 3-0 win.

"I thought it was a solid performance," said head coach Chad Bodnar. "The weather is a lot colder, and I thought our back line and goal keeping did a great job today and kept a clean sheet in the first conference game. What can you say? We came out and got two goals in the first three minutes of play, that's the best way to start. We played well with a lead. We looked organized and defended well. I'm really proud of our team."

Win-Loss Record
Eastern Washington improves to 7-1-1 and 1-0-0 in the Big Sky, while Idaho State falls to 3-8-0 and 0-1-0 in the BSC.

What It Means
In its return to home, EWU gained its first conference win of the season and extended its home winning streak to three games. Today marked the team's third shutout of the year after it held Grand Canyon scoreless in the season-opening victory back on Aug. 19, and kept Omaha without a goal in the 0-0 tie on Sept. 14.

Eastern now has a firm hold of first place in the Big Sky with its 7-1-1 record and 1-0 start to league play. Northern Colorado is second behind EWU with a 6-3-1 record.

Keys to the Game
Working with an early lead, the Eastern defense played back and controlled the ball well, keeping the Bengals off their game and limiting them to only two shots in the first half. EWU employed the same strategy in the second period, holding ISU to zero shots on goal and only four total shots.

Going back to last week's game at South Dakota, the Eagle defense has now held their opponents scoreless for 173 minute of play.

Top Performers
Chloe Williams scored one goal in the first minute of the match for her sixth on the season and had four total shots.

Senior Mallory Taylor played the full game today after missing the last two matches, as she pulled down four saves and kept a clean sheet.

Aimie Inthoulay adds on two more assists to her total to make it nine on the season. She also had one shot on goal today.

Saige Lyons made her third start of the season and came through with three shots and a goal in the 83rd minute.

Turning Point
After Williams found the back of the net on an opening fast break, and Jenny Chavez capped off the first score with another goal in the third minute, the momentum stayed in Eastern's favor for the rest of the game.

Team Highlights
The Eagles outshot the Bengals 11 to six in the contest, and converted on more of their opportunities as both teams had four shots on goal.

Notables
Chloe Williams inches closer to the EWU all-time goals record, as her 1st minute goal pushed her career total to 23, just one behind the leading mark of 24 by Cassie Black (2011-14).

Now the all-time points leader for Eastern, Williams increases her own record to 59 points just one game after she broke the record against South Dakota on Friday, Sept. 16. She now has six goals on the season and leads the team with 13 points.

Mallory Taylor adds four saves to her career total, making it 111 in her two years with the program. She is eighth on the all-time list, 11 behind the next best mark of 122 set by Ashley Renz (2007-08).

Saige Lyons scored her second career goal and has seven total shots. She is tied fourth on the team with five points.

Aimie Inthoulay continues to be the one of the nation's best passers as she was ranked third before today's game. With two more assists she now has nine on the season, accounting for all of her points this season.

Inthoulay moved up to third all-time on the EWU assists leaderboard, tying teammate Savannah Hoekstra with nine.

Jenny Chavez scored her second goal of the season and moves her career total to six.

Bodnar Bites
On the backline's effort: "M'Kenna Hayes, and Allison Rainere have been great for us this year, and Maia Inniss and Laci Rennaker really stepped up today. Those kids have really embraced their role and have taken pride in it, and they were good today."

On Starting Big Sky play at 1-0: "We want to get as many wins as fast as we can. We wanted to start out 1-0, and we were able to do that, but we have a quick turnaround and play the defending conference champs (Idaho) on Sunday. We're going to enjoy this one tonight, but we're going to be right back tomorrow morning."

What's Next
The Eagles host Idaho for its second conference match of the week on Sunday, Sept. 25 starting at 1 p.m. PST.

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