CHENEY, Wash. – The No. 14 Eastern Washington women's soccer team is traveling back to Los Angeles to take on the No. 3 seeded University of Southern California in the first round of the NCAA Division I Soccer Tournament for the second year in a row. The rematch is set for Nov. 11 at noon.

Last year marked the first time that an Eastern Washington soccer team competed in the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles also took on the No. 2 seeded USC, who were eventually crowned the champions. Against the Trojans, EWU fell 3-1 with Devan Talley scoring the lone goal, but the Eagles were one of only two teams able to score on the Trojans throughout the NCAA Tournament.

Big Sky Conference Tournament

After winning the Big Sky Conference Regular Season Champions, the Eagles earned a first round bye with an automatic bid into the semifinals round in the BSC Tournament. Eastern went on to defeat Portland State in the semifinal round and Northern Colorado in the finals, giving them the Big Sky Championship title for the second year in a row.

Against No. 4 Portland State, EWU won 2-1. It only took the Eagles six minutes to score on the Vikings following a corner kick from Chloe Williams with Jenny Chavez heading in the goal. With the assist, Williams also tied for fifth in all-time career assists in the Big Sky.

Eastern increased its lead to 2-0 later in the game following a corner kick from Emma Vanderhyden to set up a header goal from Brooke Dunbar for her first career goal. The Vikings responded 27 minutes later with a goal from Tea Poore, making the final score 2-1 in favor of the Eagles to advance EWU to the championship game for the second year in a row.

During the final game of the tournament, Eastern took on No. 3 Northern Colorado, who had upset No. 2 Montana in the other semifinal game.

The Eagles defeated UNC 3-0 with all three goals coming in the second half. The first two goals were from successful penalty kicks. The first one came from Savannah Hoekstra in the 62nd minute and the second one was from Williams in the 75th minute. The goal from Williams marked her 43rd career goal, extending her lead as the Big Sky All-Time leader in career goals and points (107).

In the 78th minute, Vanderhyden took a shot on goal that bounced off the goalkeeper. Alexis Stephenson was right there to score off the deflection to seal EWU's 3-0 win.

With the three goals from the final game, the team now holds the most goals scored in a single season with 47, which ranks sixth in the nation. The previous record was held by the 2016 squad who scored 44. The shutout also adds the team's season total to nine, which is now the most shutouts in a single season. The previous record was eight, also held by the 2016 team.

Stephenson, Chavez and Hoekstra were named to the All-Tournament Team while Williams was named the Tournament MVP.

This marked the fourth appearance for head coach Chad Bodnar as he has compiled a 4-2-1 record so far in the tournament. Overall, the Eagles are now 4-7-1 in the tournament.

Get to Know Your Eagles
Eastern Washington concluded another record-setting regular season with a program record 14 wins and went 11-1-1 at home. With the tournament victories, the Eagles finished 16-5-1 overall and went 8-1-1 in Big Sky play, falling only to Idaho in the final regular season match. EWU also set program records for the longest consecutive unbeaten streak with 11 matches and nine in Big Sky play.

Eastern finished in first place in the conference with 25 points and outscored its opponents 28-7. The Eagles are led by senior Chloe Williams who has tallied 25 points and 11 goals. Behind her is Jenny Chavez with eight goals and 16 points. Aimie Inthoulay leads the team with five assists.

Senior Emily Busselman has been handling most of the netminding duties as she has logged 1,510 minutes in goal. She has only allowed 13 goals in 127 shots faced, making 39 saves. Busselman has a save percentage of .688 to go along with her 14-2-1 record, which includes seven and a half shutouts.

As a team, the Eagles average 17.5 shots a game, ranking 19th in the nation. The team only allows their opponents to strike an average of 8.4 times in a match.

Big Sky and National Leaders
Eastern Washington finished first in the Big Sky in shots (386), points (128), goals (47), goals per game (2.14), assists (33), assists per game (1.5) and corners (145). As a team, they rank in the top-100 nationally in several categories including: corners per game (14th, 6.59), shots per game (19th, 17.56), goals (6th, 47), points (18th, 128), scoring offense (23rd, 2.14), shots on goal per game (35th, 7.59), points per game (29th, 5.82), assists per game (73rd, 1.55) and assists (39th, 34).

Individually, Chloe Williams led the conference in shots with 97 and shots per game with 4.41. The senior also ranks 37th in the nation with 11 goals, 14th in shots per game with 4.41, and 45th in shots on goal per game with 1.82.

Emily Busselman also ranks 60th in the nation with total shutouts (7) and 55th in goals against average (.775).

All-Conference Honors
The Eagles set a program record with four first-team selections while adding two honorable mention nods from the Big Sky Conference.

A trio of seniors in M'Kenna Hayes, Aimie Inthoulay and Chloe Williams along with junior Jenny Chavez represented Eastern Washington on the All-Big Sky first team. In addition, defenders Grace Klinkenberg and Lexi Klinkenberg were tabbed Honorable Mention. The four All-Big Sky first-team selections by Eastern were the most for one team in the conference.

After a successful season, Williams was also named the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year for a remarkable third-straight season, marking the school's first-ever four-time All-Big Sky first team selection and just the third to accomplish the feat in Big Sky history. She is also the first player in conference history to win Offensive MVP three times.

Knowing Your Opponent: USC
The Trojans lost five key starters from the title-winning squad this year, including 2016 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Mandy Freeman and 2016 Pac-12 Goalkeeper of the Year Sammy Jo Prudhomme. The defending champions went 14-3-1 overall this season while going 8-2-1 in the Pac-12. The Trojans are 7-1-1 at home with the lone loss against Stanford.

So far this year, USC has scored 33 goals and average 1.83 a game. The Trojans take an average of 17.8 shots a game while their opponents take 9.1. USC is led by Alex Anthony who has recorded seven goals and two assists, good for 16 points. In goal for most of the season was Kaylie Collins, who has a save percentage of .87 and a 13-3-1 record. She has allowed 15 goals in the 153 shots faced.

All-Time Series
The Eagles will be seeking their first win over USC as the Trojans lead the series 3-0. The first game between the two teams took place on Sept. 15, 2006 when EWU lost 2-0 on the road. The next game took place on Sept. 26, 2010 in Cheney where Eastern fell 5-1.

Last year at the tournament was the most recent competition between the two teams when EWU lost 3-1 at Southern California. The game marked Eastern's first tournament game in program history.

What's Next
The winner of this game will advance to the next round in the bracket, taking on the winner of Baylor and Rice.