Missoula, MONT. – The Eastern Washington University women's soccer team fell to San Jose State 3-0 today (Aug. 25) in the first game of the Montana Cup, making it Eastern's first loss of the season. With this loss, EWU drops to 2-1-0 on the season while SJSU collects their first win of the year, improving to 1-2-0.
"I thought we created some good chances early that we just didn't capitalize on. Conceding a goal with 22 seconds left in the first half after we had been the better team didn't do us any favors," said head coach Chad Bodnar. "All in all, this is not a performance that any of us are proud of and we expect better."
The Eagles put up a good fight as they outshot San Jose State 18-17. EWU took 10 shots in the first half while taking eight more in the second. Senior forward Chloe Williams led the team with five shots with two of them being on goal.
Williams took the first shot for the Eagles in the fourth minute of the game, but it was saved by goalkeeper Ana Calero. Senior Lexi Klinkenberg put a shot on frame in the 10th minute, but she also couldn't get it past the keeper.
Towards the end of the first half, Williams took another shot on goal in the 41st minute but could not get it passed Calero in net.
San Jose State scored with 20 seconds left in the first half following a goal from Jamilecxth Beccera, her first of the season, making it 1-0 SJSU at the half.
Beccera scored again in the 74th minute when she hit an upper left corner shot from 10 yards out to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead.
One minute later, Dorthe Hoppius scored on a loose ball six yards out from the next off of an assist from Kristen Amarikwa to put San Jose State up 3-0.
"We pushed some players forward trying to get an equalizer and got exposed a couple times late in the second half," added Bodnar. "We need to shake this one off and get back to it on Sunday with a much better performance."
Eastern's best opportunity to score in the second half came in the 86th minute when Sariah Keister put a shot on goal. However, she couldn't get it past the keeper as the Eagles fell by a score of 3-0.
In net for the Eagles was reigning Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week freshman Kelsee Winston. In her first career start, she collected five saves in the game, which all came in the second half of play.
For San Jose State, Ana Calero was in net and had seven saves. Five saves were in the first half while the other two came in the second half.
Win-Loss Record
Eastern Washington falls to 2-1-0 on the year, while San Jose State advances 1-2-0. The Spartans improve their series record against EWU to 2-0. Prior to this contest, the last matchup between the two teams was on Sept. 30, 2007 where SJSU won 3-2 in California.
What it Means
This marks the first loss of the season in a nonconference game for the Eagles. Eastern had previously had a 5-1 win over Omaha on Aug. 18 and a 1-0 win over South Dakota on Aug. 20.
Keys to the Game
Despite having a dominate presence on the offensive side of the ball with 18 shots, Eastern was not able to notch one past the goalkeeper and ended up scorelss in the game.
Eleven different Eagles had shots for the team, with six of them also having at least one shot on goal.
Top Performers
Chloe Williams led the team in shots for the third game in the row with five shots and two of them being on goal.
Redshirt sophomore Maia Inniss competed the whole 90 minutes for the Eagles in the backfield.
Notables
This was just the second time that Eastern and San Jose State competed against each other.
With this loss, the Eagles snapped a 13 game streak without scoring a goal. Last time this happened was on Sept. 30, 2016 when EWU tied with Portland State 0-0 in double overtime.
What's Next
The Eagles continue competition at the Montana Cup this Sunday, Aug. 27 against Air Force. The game is set to begin at 9 a.m. PT and can be seen on WatchBigSky.com. Then EWU travels to New York to take on Hofstra and Cornell. Eastern returns home on Sept. 8 when it takes on Gonzaga to kick off seven straight home matches.
