The 2022 fall season begins for Eastern Washington Women's Soccer, they are heading down to Corvallis, Ore. for a matchup against Oregon State on Thurs. August 18^th, at 6 p.m. Pacific Time. Following OSU, they will advance to compete against Portland, Ore. on August 21^st at 1 p.m.

Insight about Eastern:
Exhibition games started for EWU and they're off to a strong start. The first two games against University of Calgary Dinos and Yakima Valley Community college were a success, securing two wins. With the 3-0 win over the Dinos, Katrina Kupp put the Eagles up 1-0 within the first 13 minutes of the match, while Gillian Martin was credited with the assist. Martin then came up in the second half scoring a goal with Riley Arribas on the assist. Quickly after, Maddie Morgan, unassisted, scored the third goal of the match. Against YVC, the Eagles delivered seven goals, while Yakima misplayed the ball leading to an own goal. Elisabeth Cole, Maddie Morgan, Katrina Kupp, Skyler Matthews, Candace Carlson, Mya Elder-Hammond, and Lyric Baker collectively putting the Eagles on top over Yakima.

Eastern is not short on getting back some dominant players from last season. 13 girls returning to the roster and gaining 17 new players, has generated room for improvement between the returners and the newcomers to learn the Eagle style. '21 All-Big Sky first team Madison Kem, and leading scorer Maddie Morgan are a pair of lethal tools that eastern has coming back, along with senior defender Mya Elder-Hammond. After finishing the previous season with a Big Sky record of 3-6 and an overall record of 5-12, head coach Missy Strasburg and the Eagles narrowly missed the Big Sky Championships. Strasburg looks to punch her team a ticket into the Championship's in her second season with Eastern.

The Eagles are projected to finished seventh by the Big-Sky coaches pre-season poll.

Insight about Oregon State:
With the Beavers exhibition games beginning, Oregon is leading off with a great 2-0 pre-season start. In their opener against Trinity, the Beavers took a 4-1 win as their Forward McKenna Martinez, getting two goals along with Sawyer Service and Ava Benedetti finding their way in as well. Adding another win, the Beavs took on Seattle U at home to secure the second pre-season victory, 2-1. Oregon State's Forward's, Bryana Pizarro, was selected to play on the Puerto Rican U20 in the Central America and Caribbean Association Football Women's Championship.

Insight about Portland:
As Portland's pre-season begins, based off a coach's pre-season poll, they are voted to finish fifth in their conference in their upcoming 2022 season. In the spotlight, Portland's forward, Nedya Sawan was named to 2022 WCC Preseason Team finishing with 26 points, 12 goals with two assists in her previous season with Pilots. Ending their '21 season, Portland went 9-8 overall with a 5-4 conference record. Their 5-4 WCC record was their best since 2013.

Up Next
Eastern returns to EWU Soccer Field on August 25 to play Nevada, with kickoff at 4 p.m. The Eagles will then travel to Pullman, Wash. to play Washington State on August 28 at 1 p.m.