The EWU soccer team came back home after a conference road trip to face the University of Idaho on Oct. 12 where they, fell 1-0.

Head coach Chad Bodnar said Eastern was not able to get the victory due to team issues. “We just haven’t dealt with teams that play direct at all very well,” Bodnar said. “We’re missing our center back, and we made one mistake in the back [on Oct. 12]. We obviously weren’t sharp in front of goal and I thought we were reacting a lot instead of anticipating.”

Senior midfielder Haley Stading mentioned the challenges the Eagles were not able to overcome. “They’re a lot bigger and taller,” Stading said. “They’re quick up front and they were just pressing us and their tempo is definitely quicker and we kind [of] got caught on our heels a few times.”

The Eagles also ended their streak of goals by going scoreless the entire game against the Vandals. During the first half, Idaho outshot Eastern, 10-5. The Vandals had two corner kicks along with four saves.

The Eagles had one save and one corner kick for the first half. Freshman forward Savannah Hoekstra led Eastern in shots in with two. The first half ended with both teams held scoreless.

In the 47th minute of the second half, Idaho scored the leading and only goal for the game. The Vandals’ sophomore midfielder Gabby Leong scored from a pass from sophomore forward Kavita Battan who recorded the assist.

Bodnar said the Eagles can improve and learn from this game. “We got to create better shots and be more dangerous,” said Bodnar. “We got to get out to the edges to get in and we didn’t. We kept pounding balls down the middle.”

Eastern continued to try to tie the game; the Eagles had a total of six shots in the second half compared to the Vandals’ five. Eastern also had four corner kicks to Idaho’s two.

Stading talked about the few good things the Eagles were able to do during the game. “I definitely thought we did well at responding after they got the goal,” Stading said. According to Stading, the team needs to be at the right spots at the right time in order to finish plays.

Also in the second half, Eastern finished with one save and four corner kicks. Idaho had three saves two corner kicks.

For the entire match Hoekstra led Eastern with three shots. Senior forward Cassie Black, freshman midfielder Sydney Shintaffer and Stading all finished with two shots.

Eastern finished the match with 7 shots on target compared to Idaho’s 3. The Eagles had zero offsides calls against them, the Vandals had five.

Eastern falls to a record of 5-6 overall and 2-3 in conference play. They are currently 1-2 at home. The Vandals improve to an overall record of 4-10-1 and 4-1-1 in conference play, they are now 1-6-1 on the road.

Bodnar and Stading gave their outlook on the rest of the season.

“We’re trying to get to five games in conference and have a chance to make the conference tournament,” Bodnar said. “It’s doable, but we’ve got to be better and I thought today we were not very sharp.”

“I think we can go far,” Stading said. “Anybody can get a roll in this conference, we just have to take it game by game.”

The Eagles will be back on the road to face Southern Utah University on Oct. 17.