MISSOULA, Mont. – The Eastern Washington University women's soccer team faced Montana today (April 11) for its second consecutive match and fell short 3-1 at the Missoula County Stadium in Missoula, Mont. The Eagles end their season holding a winning 5-4-2 overall and 4-2-2 Big Sky Conference record and scoring four goals and four assists in the duration of two matches.
"We had a slow start and went down early and just couldn't recover. We missed a lot of good chances and the ball wouldn't bounce our way today," said head coach
Chad Bodnar. "Our girls played their hearts out. We just had some unlucky breaks and some weird calls and it just wasn't to be. A great group of players and some that are done I will miss dearly, but we played well and I appreciate all of the effort from our team."
Two early goals for Montana, both scored off the end of a Griz set-piece, provided the comfort they needed to defeat a relentless Eagle squad which consists of a trio of strikers combining for a total of seven goals and six assists on the season.
After yielding two goals, the Eagles responded with three shot attempts in three different individuals but could not find the back of the net before the halftime whistle blew as EWU headed into the locker room down 2-0.
Following the intermission, EWU would out-shoot UM 4-0 before finding a goal in the 63
rd minute.
The goal started from an EWU throw-in that was kicked out by Montana but then sent back into dangerous territory from the head of EWU defender
Colby Wilson, as the ball found
Maddie Morgan's head to flick it onto
Taylor Matheny's boot who calmly poked it past the goalie.
Two minutes later, Montana responded with a goal of its own in the 65
th minute, capitalizing on a penalty kick given up by the Eagles.
On the Montana side, they were set up to constantly run at the makeshift Eastern Washington back four who had trouble answering to the waves of maroon jerseys that crashed against them every bit as much as the first half downpour.
As the second half progressed, the Eagles attempted to answer back, out-shooting Montana 4-1 in the final 20 minutes, but ultimately could not exploit Montana's defense as they drop the decision 3-1.
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: EWU ends its season 5-4-2 (.545) overall and 4-2-2 (.625) in league play while the Grizzlies move to 8-1 overall and 7-1 in conference play with their only loss to the Eastern Washington squad.
TOP PERFORMANCES: Senior
Taylor Matheny scored the lone goal coming from an assist by sophomore
Maddie Morgan.
Additionally,
Colby Wilson and Morgan each had one shot on target.
EWU goalkeeper
Kelsee Winston made four total saves.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: EWU out-shot Montana 12-10, however, the Eagles only landed three on target versus seven for the Griz.
The Eagles came up with four saves compared to Montana's two, and conceded only one corner kick while delivering four.
UP NEXT: With today's loss, the unusual shortened 2021 spring season ends for Eastern Washington.
