Getting right mix is key for EWU soccer success

In his rookie season as head soccer coach at Eastern Washington University in 2014, Chad Bodnar had plenty on his plate as he transitioned from the community college level in Walla Walla to NCAA Division I.

Bodnar, however, saved some room for dessert as he also helped turn a struggling program around with an all-time record for Big Sky Conference wins with five and qualified the Eagles for the playoffs.

Now comes a significant challenge in year two as Bodnar's first recruiting class gets its first test test.

Eastern lost 10 players from 2014 and looks to integrate 19 new faces into the program. Their 2015 roster consists of 13 freshmen and 11 sophomores. Just 12 of the 31 players have experience at the NCAA Division I level.

There's a lot of "jelling to do" Bodnar said.

"We went and hit it hard (in recruiting)," Bodnar said. "Now we've got a really new team, a really young team (and) a lot of transfers," trying to find playing time on a team that finished 8-9 overall in 2014.

Still, the Big Sky's coaches seem to have recognized EWU's improvement under Bodnar's leadership, picking the Eagles to finish seventh in the preseason coaches' poll, the highest predicted finish in five seasons.

Among the notable losses from the 2014 team are leading scorer Cassie Black and goalkeeper Nathalie Schwery, who started 42 career games.

But Eastern welcomes back some young talent in sophomore forwards Chloe Williams and Savannah Hoekstra. Williams, who earned First-Team All-Big Sky honors last season, and Hoekstra, who was an Honorable Mention All-Big Sky pick, combined for 12 of EWU's 27 goals a year ago.

"Chloe and Savannah both had tremendous seasons, and we return a number of other attacking players, as well," Bodnar said.

Also back up top are senior Alisha Stott (forward/defender) juniors Paige Gallaway (midfielder) Ua Ruedy (forward) and sophomore Caylah Lunning (forward), all of whom got playing time for Eastern last season. The midfield returns familiar faces in Colville senior Tasha Luu (midfield/defender), junior Kiana Hafferty (midfielder) and sophomore Laci Rennaker (defender).

Goalkeeper is the Eagles biggest unknown following the departure of Schwery along with the news that presumed No. 1 Alexandria Johnson underwent career-ending surgery this offseason. Bodnar brought in three new players to vie for the spot, the most experienced being junior Mallory Taylor, who earned Great Plains Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors last season at NAIA member Hastings College in Nebraska.

Bodnar had a chance to see how training efforts have worked in an exhibition match Friday, Aug. 14 versus Gonzaga of the West Coast Conference, a 2-1 win for the Bulldogs. Williams picked up where she left off in 2014 scoring the Eagles' goal in the 24th minute of a game played on a dusty, blustery day in Cheney.

"I was definitely impressed with the level of athleticism in the exhibition," Bodnar said. "I think anybody that came and who watched, from the start of this year and the start of last year would see a big improvement; I do anyway."

Bodnar said he put players into situations against GU to test them, and his intuitions on their abilities. "We try to put them in a tough spot against teams that are as good or better than teams we're going to play the rest of the year and we did that," he said.

Besides the mixing and proper matching of veterans and youth, part of the effort to turn a struggling program around involves changing the culture, Bodnar said. "I think it's more of the kids bought into what we were doing, they worked extremely hard," he said.

The part of the Eagles season that counts begins with nonconference contests at the University of Texas-El Paso this Friday, Aug. 21, and at New Mexico State Sunday, Aug. 23. They return home for a Friday, Aug. 28 contest with California State-Bakersfield at 4 p.m.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].