CHENEY, Wash. – As the Eastern Washington University soccer squad gears up for the Big Sky Conference Tournament quarterfinals, they look to face No. 6 seed Portland State this Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 11 a.m. Pacific time in Greeley, Colo. The conference tournament is hosted by Northern Colorado and runs Nov. 6-10 at Jackson Stadium.
This is the sixth-straight season that EWU will be playing in the postseason as they earned the No. 3 seed, ending the regular season with an overall record of 9-7-2 and a conference record of 6-2-1.
TOURNAMENT INFO: The 2019 Big Sky Conference Tournament runs from Nov. 6-10 in Greeley, Colo., at the Jackson Stadium and is hosted by Northern Colorado. The quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday, Nov. 6 with No. 3 Eastern Washington facing No. 6 Portland State and No. 4 Northern Colorado squaring off against No. 5 Northern Arizona.
In Friday's semifinal matches (Nov. 8), the No. 1 seed Montana will face the winner between Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona while the No. 2 seed Sacramento State will meet the winner between Eastern Washington and Portland State.
On Sunday, Nov. 10, the championship match features the winners of the semifinal matches. The winner of the championship receives the Big Sky's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
HOW TO WATCH: All matches will air for free on Pluto TV Ch. 531 and WatchBigSky.com. The semifinal and championship matches will also air on Eleven Sports. Live stats will be available
HERE. For more information, including to purchase tickets and the complete bracket, visit the championship central page
HERE.
A LOOK AT THE EAGLES: Eastern Washington is 9-7-2 overall with a 6-2-1 Big Sky conference record. In their last two matches EWU fell 1-0 against their opponents but prior to that, they won six-straight matches in a row and only allowed two goals in the process. As a team, they've scored a total of 28 goals with 16 of them being assisted by a teammate and a 1.56 goals per game average, as they lead the Big Sky in goals scored. EWU has had nine different players who have scored at least two goals and nine different players with at least one assist this season.
Individually, junior
Sariah Keister continues to lead the squad with six goals and one assist while senior
Brooke Dunbar has contributed with four goals and two assists. Keister is third for goals scored and total points with 13 and is second for most shots taken with 51 in the conference. Junior
Taylor Matheny has scored two goals and has three assists while senior
Saige Lyons leads the team in assists with five which also puts her tied for third in the conference for most assists. Redshirt sophomore
Brittany Delridge has scored three goals and EWU has also had five other players who have scored two goals including freshman
Brooke Flores who scored a game-winner against CSU Bakersfield and South Dakota.
Goalkeeper
Kelsee Winston has started in all 18 matches for the Eagles and has recorded a .759 save percentage on the season after facing a total of 187 shots. Winston has logged in 1,677.14 minutes on the pitch, recording 66 total saves and five shutouts, which puts her tied for third for shutouts in the conference.
KNOWING YOUR OPPONENT: PORTLAND STATE: Portland State finished the regular season with an overall record of 4-14-0 and a Big Sky Conference record of 3-6-0. PSU is coached by Katie Burton who is in her third season at the helm and ended her last five matches 0-5, getting outscored 14-3.
As a team, they have allowed 36 goals and have only scored 15 to put them at a .83 goals per game average. The Vikings have a 10.3 shots per game average with only a .443 shots on goal percentage. Freshman Sienna Higinbotham leads the team with five goals and one assist as junior Rilee Castilla has scored four goals and sophomore Sofi Papastamos has recorded six assists.
ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY: Eastern has an overall series record of 10-12-2 against PSU as they have won four-straight matches over the Vikings. Head coach
Chad Bodnar has an overall record of 5-1-1 against Portland State and is also unbeaten in their last six matches versus the Vikings with a record of 5-0-1 since 2014.
The Eagles and Portland State met during the last week of the regular season (Oct. 25) in Portland where Eastern cruised to a 4-1 victory.
The two squads have faced off one time during the conference tournament – Nov. 3, 2017, where No. 1 Eastern Washington topped No. 4 Portland State in the semifinals in Cheney by a score of 2-1. The Eagles would go on to win their second-straight Big Sky Tournament title that season.
EASTERN WASHINGTON IN THE TOURNAMENT: This is the 11th appearance in school history for the Eagles in the tournament and the sixth under head coach
Chad Bodnar as the Eagles are 4-8-1 all-time in the tournament.
EWU has two tournament titles, winning consecutive championships in 2016 and 2017, and are 0-1-0 as a No. 3 seed. Historically, the Eagles are 0-1-0 against No. 6 seeds and are 1-3-0 in the quarterfinals.
UP NEXT: The winner of the quarterfinal matchup will advance to the semifinals to take on No. 2 seed Sacramento State on Friday, Nov. 8 at 11 a.m. Pacific time. The championship match is set for Sunday, Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. PT.
