CHENEY, Wash.—The Eastern Washington University soccer team started it's 2018 season with a 1-0 overtime win against CSU Bakersfield today (Aug. 17) in Cheney. With this victory the Eagles start the season off on the right foot with a record of 1-0-0, while the Roadrunners fall to 0-1-0. This win marks Eastern's fourth-straight season opening victory.

The Eagles and the Roadrunners battled for 95 minutes until Emma Vanderhyden's golden cornerkick goal sealed the victory for EWU.

"There was some really good stuff today, we had a lot of possession throughout the entire match. I want to credit CSU Bakersfield, they were organized and made us stay behind the ball," said head coach Chad Bodnar, who opened his fifth season at the helm with his 50^th career win at Eastern Washington. "I thought we were patient, but we have to be better on the edges and getting balls to cross the front of the goal. It was our first game, so there are always jitters, good moments and bad moments but at the end of the day we fought through and found a way to get a result."

It didn't take long for the Eagles to attempt a shot against the Roadrunners. Senior Alexis Stephenson took the first shot of the season within five minutes, followed by a shot from freshman Janae Lee.

Vanderhyden helped the team with multiple corner kicks throughout the first half, with none of them resulted in goals. With an early corner kick from Vanderhyden to junior Saige Lyons at the top of the 13th minute, the header from Lyons just wasn't quite enough for an Eagle goal.

Eastern finished the first half off by shooting eight shots from seniors Jenny Chavez, Allison Raniere, Stephenson, sophomore Lyons, and newcomer Lee, while
CSU Bakersfield only shot two. At halftime both teams returned to their locker rooms with a 0-0 draw.

The Eagles came out of halftime taking 14 shots overall in the second half, while the Roadrunners could only get one shot off the entire half.
After a full 90 minutes of play the two teams headed to overtime with the remaining score of 0-0.

Entering overtime the Eagles continued to get a few chances at the net, but it wasn't until the 95th minute following her corner kick that Vanderhyden scored Eastern's only goal of the game. With this goal the Eagles secured the victory and move on with a record of 1-0-0.

Win-Loss Record

Eastern Washington moves to 1-0-0 on the year, while CSU Bakersfield falls to 0-1-0. This is now the fourth-straight season-opening home victory in program history for the Eagles, as EWU is now 4-2-0 all time in season openers at the EWU Soccer Field.

What it Means

This marks the third year in a row that EWU opens the season with a win at home and the fourth straight year that Eastern starts the season off with a victory.

Keys to the Game

Vanderhyden scored the only goal for Eastern this game, marking her second career game winning goal overall.

Notables

This victory was an entire team effort, including a few new faces from the EWU roster. Nine Eagles made their first debut in today's victory over the Roadrunners. Freshmen Brooke Asbury, Kaelyn Barnes, Sydney Douglas, Mya Elder-Hammond, Ariana Escobedo,Janae Lee, Bailee Nelson, Glory Smith, Colby Wilson, and Ashley Valdivieso all saw time on the field in their very first collegiate soccer game.

This victory marks head coach Chad Bodnar's 50th career win here at Eastern.  With this victory the Eagles are 23-8-2 at home since Bodnar took over in 2014, and giving Bodnar an all-time record of 50-24-8.

Bodnar Bites

On Playing the Newcomers: "Unfortunately, Megan Spataro went down really early in the game. We hadn't planned on playing Colby Wilson that much today, but she stepped up and I thought she did a great job as a freshman in her first Division I game. She got thrown in at centerback and she had a great performance. I also thought Maia Innis also did really well. I think our older players should expect more out of themselves, because we need to be sharper in front of goal. We will get better, but games are frustrating when you take 26 shots compared to your opponents three and you only score once."
 
On the Defense's Shutout: "Today was different because we usually have four playing in the back. Obviously, Megan going down changed that, but we are also trying to get players who are coming back from injury more fit. I think we have a solid backline, Grace Klinkenberg is always solid and a great player. McKaley Goffard also played well on the right side and she had never played there before. We've transitioned her into an outside back role and she did a great job, she ran a lot today. Overall, we will be shifting people in and out and giving our players a chance to earn their way. I saw good performances out of the defense today."
 
On Emma Vanderyhyden's Game Winner: "Emma has a really good left foot on set pieces, that's a big weapon for us. It helps having her in that position because Jenny Chavez is really good in the air, she also had a lot of great chances in front of goal today. But Emma's got a great left foot, she bent it in and was ready to go home. It was a good corner and I think everyone was happy to end the game and get on to Sunday."
 
On Facing Seattle U on Sunday: "We're going to adjust some movement up top. We've got to be a lot more dynamic than we were today. We'll rest and heal up because Seattle U is going to be a team that comes at us more than what we saw today, but I think that will be helpful if they open up and we can get behind them."
 
What's Next

The Eagles will be back in action this Sunday, Aug. 19, when they face Seattle U at 1 p.m., at the EWU Soccer Field. As always, the game is free to the public.