STATS | STREAM | GAME NOTES
CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University women's soccer team closes out its seven straight game home stand this Sunday, Oct. 1 against Southern Utah (1-9-0) to continue Big Sky Conference competition. The game is set to start at noon at the EWU Soccer Field.
Last Time Out
The Eagles had a successful opening weekend of Big Sky Conference play after tying Sacramento State 0-0 in double overtime and shutting out Northern Arizona 4-0. Senior goalkeeper Emily Busselman was in net for both shutouts and earned her fifth win this season.
In their 4-0 win against the Lumberjacks, Chloe Williams scored the first goal for the Eagles to put them in an early 1-0 lead. Eastern increased its lead to 2-0 with a goal from Delaney Romero going into halftime. In the second half, Aimie Inthoulay and Devan Talley both scored a goal and tallied an assist, sealing Eastern's 4-0 win. The shutout against the Lumberjacks was fourth year head coach Chad Bodnar's 40th win at Eastern, bringing his record to 24-7-6 at home.
EWU continued outshooting their opponent in both matches, increasing their streak to 12 games in a row.
Get to Know Your Eagles
Eastern Washington is 7-4-1 overall, with a 6-1-1 record at home so far this season. The Eagles are led by senior Chloe Williams who has tallied 11 points and scored five goals. Close behind her is junior Alexis Stephenson, who has nine points after netting four goals this season. Aimie Inthoulay and Savannah Hoekstra each have three assists, while Delaney Romero has two. Williams leads the team by a wide margin in shots (56) and shots on goal (19) for a shots on goal percentage of .339.
Senior Emily Busselman has been handling most of the netminding duties this season as she has logged 605 minutes in goal. She has only allowed six goals on 47 shots faced, making 15 saves. Busselman has a save percentage of .714 to go along with her record of 5-1-1, that includes two shutouts. Her goals against average of .893 ranks 89th in the nation.
As a team, the Eagles take 17.92 shots per game while only allowing their opponents to strike an average of 8.5 times a match.
Williams Looks to Become New Big Sky Leader in Career Goals
With Chloe Williams' goal against Northern Arizona, she is now in sole possession of second place on the All-Time Career Goals in the Big Sky with 37 total. In first place is Amanda Ellsworth from Idaho State (2011-14) with 39.
Williams is currently the leader in the All-Time Career Points in the Big Sky with 93 points, the first student athlete to ever break 90. She became the new leader when she scored a goal against Fairleigh Dickinson on Sept. 17, increasing her points to 89 and surpassed Ellsworth's 87 points.
Big Sky Leaders
Eastern Washington is currently leading the Big Sky in shots (215), points (61), goals (23), goals per game (1.92) and corners (87). As a team, they rank in the top-100 nationally in several categories including: corners per game (13th, 7.25), shots per game (21st, 17.92), goals (31st, 23), points (46th, 61), scoring offense (57th, 1.92), shots on goal per game (75th, 7.17), points per game (80th, 5.08) and assists (83rd, 15).
Individually, Chloe Williams is leading the conference in shots with 56. The senior also ranks 79th in the nation with five goals, 14th in shots per game with 4.67, and 96th in shots on goal per game with 1.58.
All-Time Series
The series against the Thunderbirds dates back to 2002 with EWU leading the series 3-2-1. The Eagles are seeking their first win at home against Southern Utah as they are 0-2 at home versus SUU. The last time that EWU collected a win against the team was on Oct. 17, 2014 at Utah. Last year between the teams, the game ended in a 3-3 tie.
Knowing Your Opponent: Southern Utah
The Thunderbirds are 1-9 overall and 0-2 in the conference, with their one win against Nevada on Sept. 8. EWU also defeated Nevada earlier in the season.
Southern Utah had a tough nonconference schedule as the team took on California Riverside, Boise State, Wyoming, UNLV, Iowa, Milwaukee and Florida Atlantic, only playing at home once during the nonconference stretch. SUU will be playing Idaho on Friday, Sept. 29 before taking on EWU the following Sunday.
Redshirt sophomore Meghan DeHerrera leads the team in points with five, one goal and three assists. Junior MaKenzie Lawrence and senior Payton Wells lead the team in goals, both with two.
The goalkeeper in net with the most starts so far this season is Kaitlyn Caldera who has a .683 save percentage. Right behind her is Alanna Carbonaro with a .667 save percentage.
The Thunderbirds average 7.10 shots a game while their opponents average 17.7.
Up Next
The Eagles will continue Big Sky Competition as they travel to North Dakota on Oct. 6 and to Northern Colorado on Oct. 8. Eastern will return to Cheney to close out their home games on Oct. 13 against Portland State and on Oct. 15 against Montana.
