2007 Season Outlook

 

 

Barrett Henderson

 

             

 

               Let’s look at the basics, the EOU women’s soccer team is returning to play after their finest season in team history, a second place finish in the conference, three players named All-Region, and Eastern only loses three players from last year’s team.

              This gives fans reasons to be excited for the 2007 season. After all the last time EOU was on the field was a disappointing home loss to Evergreen in the conference semifinals after being rewarded a first-round bye. This loss is still fresh in the minds of some of the players.

              EOU collected 87 points in the Cascade Conference coaches’ preseason poll, which is good enough for third place in the 11-team conference.

 

Head Coach

               Eastern will be led this year by Jessy Watson, who enters his third year with the Mountaineers, but first as head coach. Watson came to EOU after coaching the La Grande High School Men’s team for six years, which included four trips to the state tournament and two top four finishes. He was named conference coach of the year three times while at LHS. Under Watson, LHS had an incredible record of 54-10-20 and won the conference title four times.

 

 

Goalkeepers

              EOU returns both keepers to the net this season, Kristina Kennedy and Molly Sumpter. Kennedy, a senior, posted a 7-3 record last season including four shutouts while goalkeeping. She had 41 saves and stopped about 77% of the shots on the net.

              Sumpter, only a sophomore this season, saw playing time in nine games last season. She finished with a 4-3 record, and stopped about 84% of the shots that came her way.

 

 

Defenders

              The defense returns Senior Tara Moran, who was a first-team All-Cascade Conference and All-Region defender in the 2006 season. Moran started all 17 games for the Mountaineers and recorded three goals and an assist as a defender last season.

              Another notable returnee on the defensive end is Cassie Smith. Smith a senior from Meridan, Idaho, started 15 games including all conference games last season.

 

 

Midfielders

              Junior Lori Wilson will lead an experienced midfield for Eastern this season. The Mountaineers only lost one player to graduation from the midfield.

              Wilson started all 17 games last season and had an on-goal shot percentage of 56% scoring four goals and recording one assist.

              La Grande’s own Larissa Sieders will be a key newcomer this season. Sieders, a sophomore and graduate of La Grande High School, will be a Biology major at EOU.

 

 

Forwards

              2006 Cascade Conference Newcomer of the Year, Tennly Paul-Bowden, returns to the forward position this season. Paul-Bowden, now a sophomore, was second-team All-Cascade Conference and the only Mountaineer to be named a conference and region player of the week last season. Paul-Bowden led the team in goals scored (5), shots on goal (26), and shots on goal percentage (68%).

              Newcomers Lauren Souza and Nicole Archibeque will make an impact on the field this year for the Mountaineers. Souza is a 5’1” freshman from Kailua, Hawaii and will be a pre-physical therapy major.

              Archibeque, is a 5’7” freshman from Vancouver, Washington and is undecided at this point on a major.

 

 

Schedule

              Highlights this season include the chance for redemption on September 14th against Evergreen in La Grande and the October 13th rematch of last year’s overtime thriller against Concordia. The Cavaliers of Concordia received all the first place votes in this season’s preseason poll.

              The regular season will open at Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho on August 30. There will be eight home games this season beginning with exhibition openers on August 18th against EOU soccer alumni and August 25th against North Idaho College.

 

              Coach Jessy Watson had this to say on the upcoming season in a statement, “All players this year are very skilled and talented in their craft. We should be faster and play much more physical than before. We are going to emphasize possession and speed of play this year with a concentration on being tactically sound. Every player that is on our roster has worked hard and earned the right to be on this squad. We shall use less players off the bench this year so all our players are going to be very fit and have tons of stamina.”

 

 

 

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