CHENEY, Wash. – Eastern Washington moved to 5-0 on the season after cruising past Cal State Bakersfield 2-0.
Deanna Montero opened up the scoring for the Eagles in the first half, while
Delaney Deckett scored her first goal of her career in the second to make it 2-0.
Payton Hyde recorded seven saves and the Eastern defense secured another shutout.
Eastern controlled much of the opening half, generating consistent pressure before Montero broke through in the 32nd minute.
The Eagles created several early chances, with
Mia Miconi having a shot blocked before
Noelle Raczykowski forced a save from Bakersfield goalkeeper Addyson Evens.
Maya Bossenbrook and
Addison Stendera followed with attempts as Eastern continued to push forward.
Eastern kept the pressure on as
Ella Hyde and
Mira Scarsella each put shots on goal, while Miconi continued to challenge the Roadrunners' defense. On the other end, P. Hyde kept Bakersfield off the board with three saves in the opening half.
The breakthrough came in the 32nd minute when Montero found space outside the box and buried a right-footed strike into the top-right corner to give Eastern a 1-0 lead.
"She's an incredibly tidy technical player, so it doesn't surprise me that she is so cleanly adept about striking balls from outside the 18," head coach
Missy Strasburg said of Montero. "She's crafty, she does a lot of amazing things, but she's an incredibly clean ball striker."
Strasburg also credited Montero's ability to find space, something the Eagles worked on leading into the match.
"She finds really, really good spaces. She's excellent at finding pockets of space," Strasburg said. "If teams are going to collapse into the box to take away options in behind or slashing options, then we absolutely want to be able to score from the top of the box."
Eastern carried the 1-0 advantage into halftime before Bakersfield increased its pressure and physicality in the second half. The Roadrunners earned three corner kicks over a six-minute stretch, but P. Hyde remained steady in goal, making saves in the 65th, 68th and 72nd minutes to preserve the lead.
"We're really lovely on the ball, we're doing a lot of great things," Strasburg said. "But when we show that toughness back at opponents, we start to see really, really good things happen for our team."
Eastern eventually worked its way through Bakersfield's pressure and found the insurance goal in the 80th minute. Raczykowski put a shot on frame before Deckett capitalized moments later, finding the top-right corner to extend the lead to 2-0.
"Deckett's one of the hardest-working people on our team," Strasburg said. "One of the places she really excels at is attacking that back half of the goal. She hunts incredibly well in those moments."
Strasburg added that the goal was a deserved reward for Deckett's effort.
"It's just such a great moment that I hope elevates Deckett's confidence in terms of getting rewarded for the work," Strasburg said. "That is purely just a concentration, competitive moment for her."
Bakersfield continued to push over the final 10 minutes, but Eastern's defense held firm. P. Hyde made one final save in the closing seconds to preserve the 2-0 shutout and Eastern's perfect 5-0 start.
Eastern will remain at home to take on Wyoming for Senior Day on Sunday, Spet. 6 at 1:00 p.m., with the Eagles set to recognize a senior class that Strasburg credited for its impact on the program.
"There's a lot of leadership in this group that's so behind the scenes and so important, mostly really in terms of the culture of this team," Strasburg said. "We are incredibly excited to honor them."
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ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Eastern Washington University Athletics sponsors 14 intercollegiate sports, six for men and eight for women, both as learning opportunities for its most athletically talented students and as an enhancement to student and community life. Eastern is affiliated with Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is a member of the Big Sky Conference, an association of 10 regional schools with comparable enrollments and academic goals.
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