BOX SCORE

CHENEY, Wash. - The Eastern Washington University soccer team competed against Grant MacEwan today (Aug. 17) to a 4-2 win on the EWU Soccer Field in its second and final exhibition match.

"We were sharp in the first half and scored some goals, but as good as that was, I think the second half was disappointing," said head coach Chad Bodnar. "To be honest, we've been training hard throughout the course of the week and didn't treat it like a typical week where we would go lighter the day before. We had some heavy legs in the second half. It's the end of training camp and we've played two games in a short amount of time and that showed in the second half."

The Eagles wasted no time scoring as they found themselves a goal by the third minute and another goal by the sixth minute, both by Sariah Keister. Keister scored the first goal when Maddie Morgan crossed the ball to the top of the box to find Keister's feet as she found the bottom left corner. Three minutes later, Mya Elder-Hammond found Keister following a corner kick as Keister found the back of the net for her second goal of the match.

The Eagles were not done scoring in the first half as Saige Lyons found herself a goal when she dribbled down the right side of the field solo and took a shot to find the back of the net. Eastern would contest the Grant MacEwan goalkeeper with six more shots before the end of the first half but the score remained 3-0 going into halftime.

Returning from the half, the Eagles took three shots before finding themselves a fourth goal in the 53rd minute. Freshman Kalista Kakou stole the ball from the Griffin center back and dribbled all the way to the goal to find the bottom left corner.

Grant MacEwan responded quickly as they scored in the 57th minute following a free kick taken at half by their goalkeeper Emily Burns. Burns beamed the ball over 50 yards to find Raeghan McCarthy in the box as she took one touch and scored. Shortly after, the Griffins found another opportunity in the 62nd minute as Sunder West scored from an assist by Avery Brisebois.

The MacEwan Griffins would try valiantly to get another goal as they had five more shots before the second period ended, but EWU goalkeeper Ryann Rydeen was there with the saves to secure a EWU victory.

Win Loss Record
Eastern's overall record remains 0-0-0 as this exhibition match will not count towards the regular season record. The match served as an exhibition for Grant MacEwan as well.

Key Statistics
The Eagles outshot the Griffins 21-11 with seven shots on goal versus MacEwan's six. EWU recorded four total saves throughout the match while GMU recorded three. The Eagles took 11 corners in the match while the Griffins had two.

Top Performances
Sariah Keister scored two goals while recording three shots on goal. Saige Lyons and Kalista Kakou each scored one goal while Maddie Morgan and Mya Elder-Hammond each had one assist. Ryann Rydeen recorded four saves in the match.

What's Next
Eastern Washington faces Nevada on Aug. 22 at 5:30 p.m. on the road. This match will mark the first regular season match for the Eagles.

More Comments from Head Coach Chad Bodnar

On Preparing for Next Week's Regular Season Opener: "There's a lot of positives and we've scored some great goals in two games. We just need to be more consistent in the second half and once we get our legs back and get healthy we'll be doing that."
 
On Sariah Keister's Two Goals: "Sariah was sharp and she's scored four goals in two games. She's doing well on the attack, we just have to get other people to join in with her. Again, there's a lot of positives to take out of camp."