Eastern Washington dug itself just too deep of a hole in its first-ever NCAA soccer playoff game Nov. 12 in Los Angeles against the University of Southern California.
The Eagles fell behind 3-0 in the first half to the Trojans, but Devan Talley’s goal on a header in the 59th minute that broke the shutout in a 3-1 loss was just too little, too late.
The game was the first-ever NCAA Tournament game for Eastern’s soccer program. The 13 wins are a single-season record for the Eagles and breaks the previous best of 12 wins, set by last season’s team.
“I’m just really proud of our girls and the fight they put up in the second half today,” head coach Chad Bodnar said. “We could have laid down, but our girls wanted to put up a fight against a pretty good team.”
The loss brought to an end Eastern’s most successful season in program history. The Eagles finished with 13-5-4 record, while No. 2-seed Southern Cal improved to 15-4-1 and moved on in the 64-team bracket.
The Trojans broke through with two goals in four minutes from Morgan Andrews late in the first half. Andrews’ first goal came from 22 yards out. Then she converted on a penalty kick just four minutes later.
Southern Cal dominated the offensive stat sheet against the Eagles, as they held a 35-8 edge in shots. Eastern held USC off the scoreboard in the second half.
Senior keeper Mallory Taylor had a game to remember as the Bridgewater, Nova Scotia native made a career-high 13 saves, thus becoming the program’s all-time leader.
“I told our team that we needed to go out there and be ourselves and go represent Eastern Washington in that second half,” Bodnar said. “They did that, and I have nothing to complain about.”
The campaign was notable in more than just Eastern’s reaching the NCAA tournament for the first time. The Eagles also earned their first-ever postseason victory with a 1-0 win over Montana in the Big Sky quarterfinals. They finished the tournament with a 1-0 win over regular-season champion Idaho, and earned the NCAA berth with a 2-1 shootout victory over Northern Arizona, Nov. 6.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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