CHENEY Wash. – The Eastern Washington University soccer team plays Sacramento State this Friday, Nov. 8 for the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament. The match is set to begin at 11 a.m. Pacific time at Jackson Stadium in Greeley, Colo.
The winner of the match will advance to the championships to face the winner of No. 1 Montana versus No. 4 Northern Colorado on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. PT.
HOW TO WATCH
Fans can catch the semifinal and championship matches on Eleven Sports and also for free on Pluto TV Ch. 531 and WatchBigSky.com. Live stats will be available
HERE. For more information visit the championship central page
HERE.
A LOOK AT THE EAGLES
The Eagles scored three second-half goals in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament to finish with a 3-0 victory shut out over Portland State on Wednesday, Nov. 6. A goal by junior
Sariah Keister in the 55
th minute and two from freshman
Maddie Morgan in the 78
th and 80
th minute helped secure EWU's win over the Vikings.
EWU currently holds an overall record of 10-7-2 as they make their third semifinal appearance in the last four seasons. Historically, the Eagles are 2-5-0 in the semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament but are undefeated after advancing through the semifinals to the championship match. The last two times EWU found themselves in the semifinals of the conference tournament they returned home with the championship title. Eastern is 1-1-0 overall as a No. 3 seed as this will be the first time EWU has faced a No. 2 seed opponent in the tournament.
KNOWING YOUR OPPONENT
Sacramento State is led by Randy Dedini who enters his 13
th season at the helm and is running on a three-match winning streak and a 17 match unbeaten streak with the Hornets. Sac State ended the regular season with an overall record of 11-1-6 and a conference record of 5-0-4 which handed them the No. 2 seed and an automatic bid to the semifinals in the Big Sky Tournament.
Junior Kylee Kim-Bustillos leads the team with nine goals and three assists as she has recorded four game-winners this season. Junior Ariana Nino is right behind her with five goals and two assists and two game-winners. Goalkeeper Aaliyah Fesili has recorded 95 saves and 10 shutouts and has a .888 save percentage. As a team, Sac State has scored 27 goals and has had 22 assists and has allowed 12 goals.
ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY
The Eagles played the Hornets in their last away match of the regular season that ended in a 1-0 deficit for EWU. The all-time series record for the Eagles is 8-12-3 with
Chad Bodnar 3-3-1 since being at the helm.
Last season, the Eagles lost to the Hornets at home, 1-0, in their first conference match of season. The year before, Eastern tied Sacramento State 0-0 at home and in 2016 the Eagles defeated the Hornets 1-0 on the road.
EWU has a two-match win streak on the road against the Hornets but are 0-1-0 against SAC in the Big Sky Tournament. The last time these two teams met in the conference tournament was back on Nov. 5, 2015 in Moscow, Idaho for the quarterfinals, which ended 3-1 in SAC's favor.
What's Next
The winner of the semifinal match will advance to the championship match to take on the winner of No. 4 Northern Colorado versus No. 1 Montana. The match is set for Sunday, Nov. 10 at 11 a.m. Pacific time at Jackson Stadium in Greeley, Colo.
