Eastern Washington senior forward Alexis Stephenson advances the ball against Cal State Bakersfield in the Eagles' season-opening soccer match on Friday, Aug. 17 at the EWU Soccer Field. Eastern won the contest in overtime, 1-0 on Emma Vanderhyden's goal in the 95th minute. The Eagles are at home Friday, Aug. 24 against South Dakota at 4 p.m. and then host Grambling State, Sunday, Aug. 26, at 1 p.m. Admission is free to both games.
Emma Vanderhyden's corner kick goal in the 95th minute of overtime gave Eastern Washington a 1-0 non-conference soccer victory over Cal State Bakersfield at home on Friday, Aug. 17, to open its season at the EWU Soccer Field.
"There was some really good stuff today, we had a lot of possession throughout the entire match," EWU head coach Chad Bodnar said, who earned his 50th career victory in the first game of his fifth season at Eastern.
Bodnar said the misses were likely the result of this being early in the season. "It was our first game, so there are always jitters, good moments and bad moments but at the end of the day we fought through and found a way to get a result."
Eastern saw its record evened on Monday, Aug. 20, in a 3-0 loss to Seattle University in a contest moved from Sunday, Aug. 19, in Cheney due to poor air quality. Seattle had a 1-0 first half lead and put the contest away with a pair of scores in the second half. Jessie Ray scored twice for the Redhawks.
"I put our group in a tough situation this weekend trying to get the game in with the conditions we had outside," Bodnar said. " I take responsibility for us not being prepared today, physically or mentally."
The Eagles will be back in action this Friday, Aug. 24, at 4 p.m. when they take on the University of South Dakota at the EWU Soccer Field followed by contests against Grambling State (Aug. 26) and Boise State (Aug. 31). The games offer free admission to the public.
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