Eastern Washington Takes No. 3 USC To Double Overtime; Falls 2-1 in the NCAA Tournament
*Release Courtesy of Eastern Washington Athletic Communications
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The No. 14 Eastern Washington University soccer team battled No. 3 Southern California to a double-overtime contest in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday (Nov. 11). After scoring first off of a
Chloe Williams goal, the Trojans were able to score in both the 51st and 100th minute to take the 2-1 first-round victory.
""This is a tremendous group. We battled and came out and scored early on them and really defended well and hard," said head coach
Chad Bodnar. "We worked hard and we put up a great performance. We were hoping to get that last goal and have things go our way at the end."
The Eagles got on the board first in the sixth minute.
Aimie Inthoulay took her second shot on goal, and the keeper's save bounced to the foot of
Chloe Williams who was there to net her 12th goal of the season.
It wasn't until the 19th minute that USC got its best chance to score, as Alex Anthony took a chip shot from 18 yards out, forcing
Emily Busselman to come out of her box and be there to make the save.
Inthoulay put another shot on goal in the 26th minute but USC's keeper was just able to punch it out as it hit the crossbar.
The Trojans held possession at their end of the field for most of the remainder of the first half, but were unable score on the Eagle defense and Busselman who had three first-half saves. After 45 minutes of play, USC was outshooting EWU 14-6 with the 1-0 lead still in favor of the Eagles.
It took just USC six minutes into the half to net the equalizer behind the foot of Anthony, sending the match into a 1-1 tie.
Both sides would exchange numerous chances after that, with neither side able to capitalize. After 90 minutes of play, the match went into overtime with a 1-1 tie.
During the first overtime period, both teams were evenly matched on both sides of the field with USC taking three shots to EWU's none. Busselman was able to come up big with less than a minute remaining to send the match into the second overtime period.
Seventeen seconds into the second overtime period, the Trojans netted the gamewinner behind the foot of Erika Okuma as the Eagles fell to No. 3 USC, the defending national champions, in double-overtime.
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern finishes the season 16-6-1 overall, setting a program record for wins in a single season. USC improves to 15-3-1 and advances to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
TOP PERFORMERS: Emily Busselman made a career-high eight saves in the loss. Both
Aimie Inthoulay and
Chloe Williams took four shots, three of which were on goal. Senior
Chloe Williams scored the 44th goal of her career to total 109 career points, both of which are Big Sky and Eastern Washington records.
KEY STATISTICS: USC outshot the Eagles 32-12. Eastern Washington had eight shots on goal compared to the Trojans' 10. In addition, USC took 15 corner kicks to the Eagles' three.
NOTEABLES: This was the second time in as many years that EWU has advanced to the NCAA Tournament and took on USC in Los Angeles. Last year, the Eagles fell by a score of 3-1 and the Trojans eventually won the national championship. EWU improved their seed from a No. 16 to 14, USC was a No. 2 seed last season.
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