Seven-straight home matches and a trip to the East Coast highlight the 2017 Eastern Washington University women’s soccer schedule as announced by head coach Chad Bodnar, April 20.
The defending Big Sky Champions play a total of 20 regular season matches this fall, 11 of which will be played in front of the home crowd in Cheney.
“This schedule is an accumulation of a couple heavy years on the road,” Bodnar said, who is set to begin his fourth year at the helm. “When we came in new a few years ago, we had to take games when we could get them because there wasn’t a lot on the schedule.”
Eastern welcomes a pair of teams from The Summit League to open the first home stand of the 2017 campaign, beginning with Omaha on Aug. 18 and South Dakota on Aug. 20. Last season, the Eagles fought the Mavericks on the road to a 0-0 draw in double-overtime in the program’s first meeting. Two days later, EWU handed South Dakota a 3-1 loss.
EWU then hits the road for four-straight matches, its longest road swing of the season. The road trip begins at the Montana Tournament in Missoula where the Eagles will face San Jose State on Aug. 25 and Air Force on Aug. 27.
The Eagles travel to New York for a pair of contests at Hofstra (Aug. 31) and Cornell (Sept. 3). It will mark the first meeting in program history against either squad. Bodnar expects the trip to serve as a “thank you” to his first recruiting class at Eastern Washington.
Eastern welcomes back 23 players from the 2016 championship squad, including back-to-back Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year Chloe Williams. The senior-to-be scored a program record 14 goals a year ago to go along with 33 points and five game-winning goals, also program records.
Williams also holds the program record for most goals (32), assists (18), points (82) and shots (246).
EWU 2017 soccer schedule
Aug. 18 Omaha 4 p.m.
Aug. 20 South Dakota 1 p.m.
Montana Tournament at Missoula Aug. 25 San Jose State 1:30 p.m.
Aug. 27 Air Force 9 a.m.
Aug. 31 at Hofstra 4 p.m.
Sept. 3 at Cornell 9 a.m.
Sept. 8 Gonzaga 3:30 p.m.
Sept. 10 California State Northridge 1 p.m.
Sept. 15 Nevada 3:30 p.m.
Sept. 17 Fairleigh Dickinson 1 p.m.
Sept. 22 Sacramento State* 3 p.m.
Sept. 24 Northern Arizona* noon
Oct. 1 Southern Utah* noon
Oct. 6 at North Dakota* 10 a.m.
Oct. 8 at Northern Colorado* 10 a.m.
Oct. 13 Portland State* 3 p.m.
Oct. 15 Montana* 1 p.m.
Oct. 20 at Idaho State* 3 p.m.
Oct. 22 at Weber State* 11:30 a.m.
Oct. 27 at Idaho* 6 p.m.
* Big Sky Conference
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