The Eastern Washington University women's soccer team traveled to Pullman, Wash., to take on regional opponent Washington State on Saturday night (Aug. 28). The Cougars struck early and took the 4-0 decision, improving to 1-0-1 on the year while the Eagles fall to 0-3.

"It was another tough result tonight against a very impressive WSU side. While we had a much better start to the match, against enormous early attacking pressure from the Cougars, we made a couple back-to-back errors with regards to defensive accountability inside our own penalty area and paid the price. We decided to go with a shape change at the half that enabled us to get quicker pressure on the ball and create better scoring opportunities in the attack, resulting in several near-misses in that second period," said head coach Missy Strasburg. "We have an incredibly challenging non-conference schedule this year, which is pushing us to compete and get results against top teams and grow into a team that consistently plays at a higher level. These women continue to raise their standards in training and continue to grow with each match we play. We will keep working to improve on both sides of the ball and look forward to the opportunity to respond at Seattle next Thursday."
 
Washington State's offense kept goalkeeper Kelsee Winston and the Eagle defense busy in the first half.
 
Winston would end up make four saves within the first 17 minutes and kept a clean sheet with six total saves up until the 29^th minute. That's when Washington State used a trio of shots to breakthrough for the first goal of the match. After a shot was blocked, WSU took another chance that was saved by Winston. WSU's Alyssa Gray caught the deflection off of Winston's initial save and chipped one through the top right to take a 1-0 lead in the 29^th minute.
 
Minutes later, Washington State's Jayla Land took a chip shot at the top of the box and sent one past Winston to the upper right corner, giving the Cougars a 2-0 advantage in the 35^th minute. WSU kept pouring it on, finding its third opportunity just seconds later behind the foot of Gray once again for the 3-0 lead.
 
In all, Washington State took 16 shots in the first half with 10 on goal. Winston would make seven saves in the first 45 minutes, but the Eagles trailed 3-0 at the break.
 
The Cougars added some insurance with another goal in the 49^th minute to start the half, pulling ahead 4-0.
 
Winston was called on again midway through the second half, tallying a trio of saves in the 55^th, 56^th and 58^th minute.
 
Eastern's first opportunity of the day came off the bench from freshman Anessa Campos, appearing in her first career game, as she fired off a shot that went off target.
 
Winston collected two more saves in the 70^th and 76^th minute, giving her 12 saves on the day, one shy of her career high that was set at Washington State last season.
 
As time winded down, Angela Cipriano attempted to get the Eagles on the board as she fired off a shot that went wide in the 80^th minute and Sariah Keister took an attempt as well in the 86^th.
 
Washington State would win 4-0, picking up its first victory of the season. In all, the Cougars took 29 shots with 16 on goal to go with seven corner kicks. Eastern Washington took three shots and recorded a corner while Winston finished the game with 12 saves.

"Kelsee Winston was absolutely superb in goal tonight, with several incredible saves in both halves. Mya Elder-Hammond played out of her natural position as a center back for most of the night and was impactful with her organization, ball winning and distribution," added Strasburg. "Sariah Keister was also a handful, orchestrating several goal scoring opportunities."
 
The Eagles are back in action next week with a pair of matches, splitting between home and the road. Eastern Washington travels to Seattle University for another in-state matchup against the Redhawks on Thursday, Sept. 2 at 1 p.m. Pacific time. It's then back home to Cheney for a Sunday morning (Sept. 5) contest against Bakersfield. Kickoff is set for 11:05 a.m. at the EWU Soccer Field.