Eastern Washington women's soccer opened its 2022 fall schedule with a strong, 3-0 win over the University of Calgary in an exhibition match. Eastern found the net three times and kept the Dinos off the scoreboard with good defense and goalkeeping.

"Winning is hard and there is a mentality that goes with that. We are really proud of our effort today," head coach Missy Strasburg said. "We have a lot of young players, but we had a lot of growth today. I was stoked to get three really good goals. Pitching a shutout is also an important aspect of what we are trying to do."

Katrina Kupp opened the scoring for the Eagles with a strike from inside the box in the 14^th minute, set up by a timely pass from Gillian Martin. "We like to press in 85 and we talk a lot about when to press high or not," Martin said. "It was a good opportunity to press after they had a little slip-up and we pressured that. I turned and fed [Kupp] the ball." Eastern went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.

Out of the break, the Eagles extended their lead, this time with Martin delivering the score at the 48-minute mark. Martin took a cross from Riley Arribas and headed the ball into the net to double the team's lead over Calgary.

"Riley Arribas had a beautiful cross ball over and I quickly made a slant run and headed it in for a beautiful goal," Martin explained.  

Eastern maintained pressure on Calgary, firing in 10 shots in the second half and forcing four saves from Dinos' goalie, Sarah Saleem.

In the 58^th minute, Maddie Morgan cradled her own missed shot off the post and scored on the rebound to give the Eagles the 3-0 advantage. The team would defend their zone for the rest of the match and secured the victory.

Strasburg talked about getting goals early in each half to set the pace. "It gives us a lot of freedom and luxury to try some different partnerships, which was important today. It gives us the opportunity to find some more minutes for some of our younger players and make sure they continue to be surrounded by veterans. It gives them a clearer understanding of what we are trying to do here."

Eastern rotated Kiara Matson, Kamryn Willoughby and Sydney Reagan in net and they recorded a combined shutout over Calgary.

Martin would lead the team with three points on the night, with Kupp and Morgan adding two and Arribas with one.

Eastern out-shot the Dinos, 15-7, in the game and 7-4 with shots-on-goal. The Eagles used a five-to-one advantage on corner kicks to create more scoring opportunities.

Next Up
The Eagles will have one more exhibition match before starting the regular season, hosting Yakima Valley Community College at EWU Soccer Field on Friday, August 12 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.