CHENEY, Wash.—The Eastern Washington University soccer team took on the Portland State Vikings today (Sept. 23) to a 3-2 win at the EWU Soccer Field.

"I thought we did a good job going forward, we fixed some things that we have talked about fixing. At the end ,we had to fight and I thought our kids battled and fought hard and we got back on track," said head coach Chad Bodnar.

The Eagles started the game off with the first shot from Allison Raniere, but Vikings keeper Abbie Faingold was there for the save.

The Vikings fired off their first shot of the game and it resulted in their first goal. PSU's Krystal De Ramos recorded the goal with the assist from Sofi Papastamos. De Ramos received the ball off of a pass and was able to place the ball into the lower left corner past EWU's goalie Hadley Bezon. De Ramos' goal was her third of the season.

The Eagles tried to answer back with a corner kick from Raniere who was able to find Jenny Chavez for a header, but PSU's goalie was there for the save, marking her third of the game.

The Eagles saw their first goal of the match in the 39th minute of play from senior Jenny Chavez. Chavez netted the ball off of a header from Raniere's corner kick, marking Chavez's second goal of the season.

After 45 minutes of play the score remained 1-1 and both teams headed to their locker rooms. The Eagles outshot the Vikings 10-5 in the first half. Raniere took eight corner kicks for EWU during the first 45 minutes. Goalkeeper Hadley Bezon recorded two saves in the first half.

Returning from the half there was traffic in EWU's box resulting in the Vikings scoring an own goal to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead in the 46th minute of play.

EWU's third goal of the match came from Taylor Matheny with the assist from Chavez. Matheny received the pass from the far side of the field and sent the ball right past the PSU goalkeeper, marking her first career goal as an Eagle.

PSU scored their second goal of the match in the 58th minute of play from Morgan Matthews with the assist from Sofi Papastamos. Matthews took the shot from the left side of the box and netted the ball into the upper corner past Bezon.

The Vikings tried to tie the game up with another shot from Krystal De Ramos but Bezon was there for the save, marking her first save of the second half.

After 90 minutes of play the Eagles remained on top 3-2 and picked up their first Big Sky Conference win of the year over the PSU Vikings.

"Taylor Matheney did a lot for us today. She had to put in a lot of work and get up and down on the edge and defend. On her goal, she struck the ball really clean and well and it was great timing for us," noted Bodnar. "Having Jenny Chavez back was really great for our team. She does what she always does and that's getting a good ball in the middle and scoring off of set pieces. Allison Raniere also did great for us, she worked hard to create chances and was a great leader for our team."

The Eagles outshot the Vikings 18-11 in today's match with nine shots on goal and 10 corner kicks. Raniere led the team in shots taken with seven and three of them being shots on goal, followed by Matheny who had five total shots with two on goal and one goal. Chavez and Raniere each had one assist in today's match.

Win-Loss Record
The Eagles are now 5-4-2 overall and 1-1-0 in Big Sky Conference play. PSU falls to 2-7-0 overall and 0-2-0 in conference play.

Notables
Hadley Bezon recorded 90 total minutes in the net for the Eagles with three saves.

Taylor Matheny scored her first career goal for EWU in the 53rd minute of play.

Allison Raniere took 10 corner kicks for the Eagles in today's match, she is also currently in third place in career assists for EWU with 15.

What's Next
The Eagles head out for a two-game road trip next week as they head to Missoula, Mont., to take on the University of Montana Grizzlies on Friday, Sept. 28 at 2 p.m. PT, followed by their match against Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo. on Sunday, Sept. 30 at 1 p.m. PT.

Bodnar Bites

On Further Improvements Moving Forward: "We've missed players in every single game this year, we haven't had a full squad with all of the people that can help this team. Hadley Bezon stepped in and did a great job for us today. I'm hoping to get everybody back soon so we can fire on all cylinders. We're getting better up front. Now we just have to put the frontline and the backline piece together so we're not giving up two goals and having to score three to get the win. I want us to continue to get better and continue to get healthy so that way we can make a run down the stretch. Anytime you have to go on the road in the Big Sky it's tough, so we need to gather ourselves this week, get better and move on to Friday."