Cheney, Wash. – Wrapping up a season-opening two-match road trip, the Southern Utah soccer team lost a close 2-1 affair at Eastern Washington on Sunday afternoon.

Both sides opened up the match strongly as they both looked for their first win of the season.

There were a number of quality chances for each team in the opening 45 minutes, as the Eagles tallied 11 shots to 7 for SUU.

Both goalies were active in the first period, including a 6-save performance by the T-birds’ Jazmyn Brass to keep it a 0-0 game heading to the break.

The second half remained a tight affair, but the Eagles would finally break through in the 73rd minute for a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, the home team would double its advantage to make it a 2-0 score.

SUU continued to push despite the deficit, and they would make it a one-goal game in the 87th minute.

A pass by Sarah Assumma found the right foot of freshman Carly Radke, who sent the ball past the goalkeeper and into the bottom left corner for her first career goal and the first of the season for the Thunderbirds.

Although they were able to secure a late goal, time ran out on an SUU comeback attempt.

Ultimately, the T-birds would fall 2-1 to EWU, dropping to 0-2-0 on the season.

“We asked for passion, and we did that very well today,” SUU head coach Kai Edwards said.

“We scored a good goal. The team fought in the second game of the weekend on the road versus a good team. Battling back late and having a lot of chances will help us grow.”

Up next

Southern Utah (0-2-0) returns to Cedar City for its first home match of 2025.

The T-birds will host Mountain West Conference member Boise State on Thursday, Aug. 21.

The match will begin at 4 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.

Photo courtesy of SUU Athletics.

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Spencer has always been passionate about sports, growing up playing and following various sports. He ran cross country in high school and began his journey in sports media in 2017 as a journalism intern at The Spectrum & Daily News. Since then, his work has been published in numerous outlets including Deseret News, Standard-Examiner, St. George News, Southern Utah Now, SUU's Thunderground, SB Nation's RSL Soapbox, FanSided's Venom Strikes, fan-insider.com, The Spurs Web, and Iron County Today. Spencer is the founder of Stadium Sportzz and both the Sportzz with Spencer and Mountain States Sports Report podcasts. His experience extends to public address announcing, having first served as the PA announcer for Southern Utah University soccer in 2017 and as a high school sports PA announcer. He is now entering his fourth year as a PA announcer at Utah Tech University, where he also occasionally takes on the role of in-game emcee. Spencer's versatility also extends to radio, where at The Fan Sports Network he produced high school and Utah Tech athletics broadcasts, hosted the weekly Region 9 Football Tailgate Show, and appeared daily on The Drive. Now working towards completing his Bachelor's degree in Media Studies, Spencer was recently named the Sports Director at Utah Tech University's 91.3 The Blaze for the 2024-25 year. He will host a weekly show and serve as a play-by-play broadcaster, continuing his dedication to sports journalism and broadcasting. When he isn’t talking, writing about, or watching sports, Spencer enjoys traveling and spending time with his amazing wife.