CHENEY, Wash. – After a victorious performance last weekend on the road, the Eastern Washington University women's soccer squad prepares to face Southern Utah this Friday, Oct. 18 at 3 p.m. Pacific time before hosting another match against Northern Arizona on Sunday, Oct. 20 at 12 p.m. PT at the EWU Soccer Field.
The Eagles will be wearing gold boot laces for Friday's game as the match is in support of the Pediatric Cancer Research, part of the Go4theGoal.org campaign. Additionally, the first 100 students to arrive at the field get pizza. Sunday will also be Senior Day, as the Eagles will honor
Hadley Bezon,
Brooke Dunbar,
Saige Lyons and
Ryann Rydeen prior to the match.
HOW TO WATCH
All home matches for the Eagles are streamed for free on Pluto TV Ch. 534 or on
WatchBigSky.com. Fans can also catch the
live stats here.
A LOOK AT THE EAGLES
The Eagles enter the weekend with an overall record of 6-5-2 and an unbeaten conference record of 3-0-1. They are currently ranked third in the Big Sky Conference behind Montana, who has a conference record of 4-0-1, and Northern Colorado who has a conference record of 3-1-2.
Eastern looks promising as they are on a three-game win streak, having shutout their last two opponents, Idaho State and Weber State, on the road. They have scored a total of 19 goals this season with 11 of them being assisted by a teammate. The Eagles have recorded ten different players with at least one goal and eight different players with at least one assist.
Sariah Keister leads the pack with five goals on the season and
Brooke Dunbar trails close behind with three goals and one assist.
Saige Lyons leads the team in assists with four and is ranked third in the conference for total assists.
Mya Elder-Hammond has recorded two goals and one assist this season, and freshman
Brooke Flores has scored two goals, both of which were game-winners, as she is ranked second in the conference for game-winning goals.
Kelsee Winston has recorded 1,228 minutes for the Eagles with 50 saves and three shutouts. Winston has faced 149 shots total, allowing only 18 goals and is currently ranked second all-time for career shutouts in EWU history with 11.
Last season, the Eagles faced NAU and SUU as their last two matches of the season. They were 2-4-1 before the match, and had to beat both teams to qualify for the Big Sky Tournament. The team traveled down to Flagstaff, Ariz., to shutout an undefeated NAU team, 1-0, and then two days later traveled to Cedar City, Utah, to shutout SUU, 2-0. Junior Lyons scored the second goal against SUU in the 87th minute to solidify the victory and help EWU secure a spot in the tournament.
KNOWING YOUR OPPONENT – SOUTHERN UTAH
Southern Utah has yet to win their first soccer match as they have an overall record of 0-12-1 and a conference record of 0-4-1. They are currently ranked in last place in the Big Sky following a 0-0 draw against Montana last week.
The Thunderbirds are coached by Jonas Tanzer who is the interim head coach and is assisted by Brielle Bourgeois. As a team, they have scored a total of six goals and have allowed 35. Redshirt senior MaKenzie Lawrence leads the squad with four goals and one assist and freshman Jaylynn Barton has recorded one goal and one assist.
SUU goalkeepers Brianna Aldridge and Isabella Whitmore have split time on the field for the team. Aldridge has played 521 minutes and has recorded 42 saves while Whitmore has played 569 minutes and has recorded 56 saves thus far.
SERIES HISTORY – SOUTHERN UTAH
Eastern has an overall series record of 5-2-1 with a two-game winning streak versus the Thunderbirds, as
Chad Bodnar is 3-1-1 against SUU since being at the helm.
Last time the Eagles faced the Thunderbirds the match ended 2-0 in EWU's favor. Returning senior
Saige Lyons scored late in the game to prevent any comeback from SUU as the victory helped EWU qualify for the Big Sky Tournament.
The Eagles are undefeated on the road against SUU and in 2017, the squad shutout the Thunderbirds 4-0 at home.
KNOWING YOUR OPPONENT – NORTHERN ARIZONA
Northern Arizona has an overall record of 6-6-2 with a conference record of 2-2-1. They are coached by Kylie Louw, who enters her first season as head coach, and is coming off of a win over Northern Colorado last Sunday. NAU is currently ranked sixth in the conference and will compete against Idaho this Friday, Oct. 18 before facing EWU on Sunday, Oct. 20.
As a team, they have scored 19 goals and have allowed 16, with a 1.36 goals per game average. Sophomore Madison Montgomery leads the team with six goals and one assist and has one game-winner while junior Paige Maling has scored five goals.
Goalkeeper Taryn Benham has started all 14 games, racking up 1300 minutes and 44 saves on the season. She has faced 138 shots and has a .733 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY – NORTHERN ARIZONA
The Eagles have an overall series record of 8-13-2 with a two-game winning streak against the Lumberjacks, with
Chad Bodnar being 4-2-1 versus NAU since becoming head coach.
Last season, the Eagles defeated the Lumberjacks, 1-0, in their second to last match of season. The victory handed Northern Arizona its first loss of the Big Sky Conference play and helped EWU's tournament hopes stay alive as they ended the season with a qualifying conference record.
WHAT'S NEXT
After the weekend matches, EWU is on the road for its next two matches facing Portland State on Oct. 25 at 3 p.m. Pacific time and Sacramento State on Oct. 27 at 12 p.m. PT.
