Eastern Washington took its first win of two home Big Sky conference matches, 1-0 over Idaho State. The Eagles were not shy coming into this match against Idaho State, as they had possession of the ball 53% of the match. It was not until the second half that Eastern took the lead and kept Idaho from scoring to secure the win.

"We talked about composure at half. Idaho State is much more organized and athletic this season and they put us under a lot of pressure, which we anticipated," head coach Missy Strasburg said. "We are a better technical team than what we showed in the first half. We made sure to have a conversation about being composed and trusting the training, along with serving a proper ball. Katrina Kupp is a player we trust. She works so hard to execute what we ask, and she doesn't deviate from the plan. That was an intentional change for us to start the second half. It was really cool for her to be on the ball and serve a perfect ball. Gillian [Martin] just had to stand there and head it on goal."

In the beginning of the match, Idaho took control of the ball right away, getting a couple shots, but none were able to land.

In the 45^th minute, Katrina Kupp delivered a precision pass to Gillian Martin for the first goal of the game. Right after Kupp was subbed into the game, she attacks around the defender and puts up a great ball for Martin to head into the goal. Kupp earned her first assist of the season and Martin scored her second goal of the season. Martin put herself on the leader board for winning goals on the season, tying with one winning goal a piece with Maddie Morgan, Corina Froehle, and Chloe Pattison.

With five incredible saves by the true freshman goalie, Kamryn Willoughby, the Eagles had a strong defense and limited the Bengals control of the ball. The fifth-year defender, Mya-Elder Hammond, controlled the ball while blocking shots and being Willoughby's back up for the night. Lyric Baker and Riley Arribas were key on the back line as well.

Froehle and Morgan led the team in shots tonight, as Morgan took four shots and Froehle had three. Martin, Kalista Kakou, and Morgan each took one shot on goal. Martin headed her ball to score in the lower left portion of the goal.

The Bengals forward, Emerson Grafton, lead the team with two shots on goal with a close goal later in the game. Deborah Pond, Karlin Wurlitzer, and Mary Za each put up one shot on goal for Idaho.

Strasburg talked about the importance of winning the Big Sky opener for the Eagles, "Everybody's back to even with conference starting today. It's really important to get a win today and be at the top of the table going into Sunday. Our aim, especially at home, is to come out of here with two wins after the weekend and be in a really good position going into conference. Everyone is really talented this year. It's going to be a fight to get into the postseason and our intention is to put ourselves into that position."

End of Match Stats:
EWU

• Kamryn Willoughby made five saves Thursday afternoon.
• Eastern had 16 total shots and three shots on goal.
• The Eagles were called for nine total fouls with only one yellow card.

ISU

• Idaho St. had two saves from Kelsey Jargstorf and Kylee Atkins.
• The Bengals recorded fourteen total shots with five shots on goal.
• ISU was called for eight fouls.

 
Up Next for the Eagles:
Eastern will host its second Big Sky conference match against the Weber State Wildcats. The game will be on Sunday, September 25^th at 1 p.m. Pacific Time.