Eastern Oregon University Athletics

Blog #5
Two teams played for the mountaineers this weekend one against Corban College and the other against Northwest Christian, in the unfortunate loss against Corban we struggled to play as a team, but came back and slide past Northwest in a uniform matter. Northwest Christian was a team fought game with a huge chunk of the seniors finishing their last home game with a goal netted or an assist.

It was a great feeling to be back out there with the girls this weekend. It is amazing to see where the class of 2010 has come from in mental and physical aspects of the game in the last four years. In addition, the senior game could not have a been played in such a team manner with out the help of everyone on the team and the support from day one that we have had from everyone, team mates, fans, parents, coaching staff, and athletic staff. So, thank you everyone for that.

We currently sit 4th in conference behind Concorida, College of Idaho, and Corban College. Next, week we will take on College of Idaho on their turf which will undoubtedly be a battle. Hope to see you all out there. F.S.U!!!

-Ashley Julian #19

Blog #4
This weekend we had a split showing, with a win against OIT, and a loss against SOU. We played as a unit Friday, and ended up finishing with our first on the road win! However, on Saturday we faced a few unfortunate injuries, and failed to play as a team. Despite a lot of individual effort, we did not have a very good showing. Saturday was a learning experience, and definitely demonstrated to us that just because we were 3-0, does not mean that we can sit on our heels. Our current conference record is 3-1, sitting in second place behind College of Idaho and Concordia, who are tied for first place. We have a big weekend ahead of us with Corban on Friday, who sits directly behind us in ranking, and then Northwest Christian on Saturday.

On Saturday: Courtney, Martha, Tennly, Kaitlin, Kalah, Lori and myself will play in our last home game here at Eastern Oregon University (yes I will be playing hopefully). I believe all the girls in the senior class believe that athletics here at Eastern have been an essential part of our education. The life lessons that I have learned, on and off the pitch, with the team, and with Coach Jessy have been paramount. Looking into the future, most of us will continue to play, and or coach soccer. Although, this is our last set of home games, we still will have five conference games, and a lot of season left. I hope to see everyone out there! Go Mounties!

Blog #3
A tradition changed this weekend with two wins against Evergreen and Northwest University. This is the first year ever in the history of the
soccer program that we have beat both of these teams in the same year. These two games were essential to win. Also, starting off tied for first in conference this gives us a great deal of confidence going into season. Watching these games I saw us grow as a team; players took new roles and executed them for the benefit of the team. We seem to be accumulating a lot of new tools in our bag, but still have room for improvement. I believe that we have diversified our team greatly in the last few weeks of practice because of the determination and will of my team mates and the drive and guidance of Coach Jessy.

We started practice today in full force trying to work out a few issues we had on the pitch this weekend. We will follow two more practices with a road trip to Bend, OR where we will stay at our Captain’s parents house Martha Billings and then head south for our contests OIT and SOU. OIT and SOU played each other last weekend with the final score ending OIT 1 and SOU 0. So with great optimism we hit the road Thursday with hopes to come back to La Grande 4-0 in conference. Let’s go girls I know you can do it! Hope to see all you mountie fans in southern Oregon this weekend!

Blog #2
Our team has been developing a vast amount in the last few days. Last week we played Eastern Washington University, a Division 1-AA program, which our team came out very strong against. We held EWU 0-0 for the majority of the first half; a lot of learning and development of our new formation was put into action. Following this game we headed off to California to play Masters College and Hope University, in which we faced two unfortunate losses. The scores did not reflect the style of play and the improvement made on our
side of the game. So, as the result of these games we have decided to make some adjustments both mentally and physically on and off the field AS A TEAM.

In California we had the blessing to get to know one another better off the field while participating in many team dinners, such as Bubba Gump’s and Cocos. Also, we were able to go on a trip to Disneyland. We were also fortunate enough to watch a Division 1-A match, USC versus Michigan. The game was a great opportunity for us to see how we could improve our play and for Coach Jessy to point out different styles of play to us.

We are very optimistic about conference play starting this weekend against Evergreen and Northwest. It will be nice to have a larger fan base because all the students will be back for our first home game. We have decided to make a new tradition by being a family and a team both on and off the field. We win together, and we lose together.

Three years ago when I was a freshmen, we faced a similar series of loses, but that team bounced back and had a pretty successful year, finished second in conference. I see the same amount of talent and drive in this team as I did in that one. I believe we can overcome what has been thrown at us and end this season on top, we just have to believe in ourselves, which is where our new tradition will begin. I’m looking forward to this year and what is in store for the lady Mountaineer soccer team.

Blog #1
So Eastern’s women soccer started with a big surprise two weeks ago against TVCC where two defender’s legs were broken in the first match; one being myself and the other being Star. Thus, a team mentality now more than ever needs to be put into act. We are currently three matches into pre-season with our next big game being against Division I AA Eastern Washington University next Wednesday in Camas, Washington.

Moving to a spectators view from a players it is exciting to watch us improve as a team. We have been working hard this week to prepare for Eastern Washington both in adapting to our new formation and reforming our team as a unit on the field. We have a lot of potential and a lot of players are reaching different heights in their play.

We will take the weekend easy and hit the field running Monday morning in order to heal some antagonizing injuries in order to be fully ready for Eastern Washington. Hope to see some of you mountaineer fans out there!

- Ashley #19