CHENEY, Wash.—The Eastern Washington University soccer team plays this Friday, Aug. 31 at the EWU Soccer Field before hitting the road. The Eagles will take on the Boise State Broncos at 4 p.m.
Friday's match will be the 13th time the Eagles have seen the Broncos in program history. Eastern's record against Boise State is 1-10-1. The Eagles look for their third home victory on the season before heading out for a three game road trip in the upcoming weeks. EWU is now 2-1-1 on the year with victories against CSU Bakersfield (Aug. 17), and Grambling State (Aug. 26) while the Broncos are 2-1.
Last Time Out
Eastern hosted South Dakota and Grambling State this past week at the EWU Soccer Field where they finished with one victory against Grambling State 2-1 (Aug.26), and a draw of 1-1 in double overtime against South Dakota (Aug. 24).
Eastern battled in double overtime against the South Dakota Coyotes to a draw of 1-1 with lone goal from senior
Jenny Chavez in the 76th minute of play off of an assist from
Allison Raniere and
Alexis Stephenson. EWU outshot USD 24-6.
Chavez has now moved up to third overall in program history in career goals with 18. Raniere is now tied for third in the EWU record book with total number of assists, with 14 overall, just four away from ranking her within the top 10 on the Big Sky Conference's all-time career assists list. The Eagles took 12 corner kicks against USD which ties for second all-time in program history for corner kicks in a single match.
Against the Tigers, EWU outshot GSU 17-8, with five of them being shots on goal.
Devan Talley netted the equalizer in the 16th minute and Eastern secured the win with their second goal of the match from senior
Allison Raniere in the 81st minute with the assist from freshman
Mya Elder-Hammond.
Big Sky Leaders
Northern Arizona leads the conference with a record of 3-1 on the year. Eastern trails in second with an overall record of 2-1-1, followed by a three way tie with Portland state, Idaho, and Northern Colorado with a 1-2 overall record.
The Eagles lead the conference in shot with 79 overall, averaging 19.75 shots per game. EWU also leads in corner kicks with 37 and averages 9.25 per game.
EWU goalkeeper
Kelsee Winston is now tied for fourth in the Big Sky in save percentages with six saves overall.
A few Eagles rank within the top 10 in the Big Sky with number of shots taken on the year including;
Allison Raniere who is in second with 12 and
Alexis Stephenson who is in third with nine. Senior
Devan Talley and sophomore
Emma Vanderhyden are tied for fourth with nine, followed closely by junior
Saige Lyons, sophomore
Sariah Keister and freshman
Colby Wilson who are all tied for ninth with six total shots taken on the season.
Knowing Your Opponent: Boise State
Boise State is led by head coach Jim Thomas. Thomas returns for his sixth year as the Broncos head coach and has an overall record of 48-42-17.
The Broncos are 2-1 on their season with victories over Idaho 2-1 and Cal Poly 2-0. Boise State has 28 shots on the year, and 12 were shots on goal.
The Broncos return junior forward Raimee Sherle who is currently 87th in the nation with 3.76 shots per game, as well as being 93rd in the nation for her two goals of the 2018 season, both of which resulting in game winners.
Sherle was named 2016 and 2017 All Mountain West First team, as well as 2017 MW Offensive Player of the Year. She is recorded to have 42 career points for the Broncos.
The Broncos also return senior goalkeeper Tara Fisher who is 93rd in the nation with 16 career saves. BSU is ranked 85th in the nation with 5.33 saves per game.
Up Next:
After their match against BSU, the Eagles head out for a three game road trip against Colorado State (Sept. 7), Denver (Sept. 9), and Utah State (Sept. 14) before returning to the EWU Soccer Field to host South Dakota State on Sept. 16.
For live tweeting during the games and more information on the soccer team, follow @EWUSoccer on Twitter.
