The Eastern Oregon University soccer team opens the 2009 Cascade Collegiate Conference schedule seeking its first victory of the season.
The Mountaineers have shown moments of excellence, but have not turned those highlights into tallies in the win column. EOU returns from a team-bonding business trip to California and begins conference play Friday against Northwest University.
The Eagles (1-4-1) have yet to play a conference game as well and has only one win so far this season. Northwest picked up that victory in its last game with a 13-0 rout over Bethany University of California. NU jumped out to an 8-0 halftime lead and scored five more times in the second half. Northwest shot an amazing 26 times in the opening period and finished with 45 shots total. The Eagles had 25 shots on goal in the match. Bethany shot just one time in the game.
Jordyn Wilson leads the Eagles with three goals. The freshman scored all three of those goals in a hat-trick performance during the win over Bethany. Wilson has shot seven times on goal and has added two assists in six games. Yanet Candido finished with a hat-trick against Bethany and has three goals in five games this season. Candido, a junior transfer, has converted on all three of her shots on goal.
Northwest's Chelsi Pennington has had a stellar start to her collegiate career. The freshman has shot 10 times on goal in six games, making two and adding two assists. Jordan Holmes and Jessica Kane share time in the net for Northwest as goalkeepers. Each has played appeared in four games this season, Holmes has given up four goals and Kane has allowed three. They both have made eight saves this season.
Last season Northwest finished the season 8-5-2 with a 7-3-0 CCC record. They return six starters from 2008 and lost eight players overall including first team All-Conference midfielder, Shauna Marshall. Coach Erin Redwine, in her fourth year, returns senior Brittney Marshall who had six goals and 12 points last season and Britannique Clayberg who shot 54 times in 2008.
Northwest opened the season by being outscored 9-0 in losses to Pacific Lutheran and Central Washington. The Eagles bounced back with a 3-3 tie at Whitman. Simon Fraser and George Fox then defeated NU in Kirkland, Wash., 2-0 and 3-2.
Eastern Oregon has split the last two meetings with Northwest. In 2007 the Mountaineers defeated the Eagles, 3-0, in La Grande. Lauren Souza scored a pair of second half goals for EOU and Kami Hernandez added a second half goal off of the bench. Six current Mountaineers were members of that victory. Kristina Kennedy made four saves to save the shutout.
Last season Northwest held off EOU with a 1-0 win in Kirkland. Brittney Marshall scored a late goal to seal the Eagle victory. Kalah Minter recorded five saves in the net for the Mountaineers. Courtney Gaskell had the only shot for EOU forcing Holmes to make a save.
Friday's home opener kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. in La Grande. Game time temperature is forecasted for 77 degrees with no chance of rain. EOU has lost its last two home openers and conference openers. Live stats will be available for the first time at an EOU home contest. They can be found at www.EOUSports.com.
