Lopes fall to Eastern Washington in OT

Friday, August 19

Cheney, Wash.

3:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

0-1-0

Eastern Washington

1-0-0

Team	1	2	OT 2	Final F
Grand Canyon	0	0	0	0
Eastern Washington	0	0	1	1

8/19/2016 6:21:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Imani Suber

CHENEY, Wash.- In their season opener, the Grand Canyon women's soccer team suffered their first loss in a heartbreaking 0-1 overtime outcome to Eastern Washington. Mackenzie Cook led the team with four shots.

How it Happened:
In a hard fought contest that went into overtime, the Lopes battled from beginning to end, but fell short in the early minutes of overtime play.

In the first half, the Lopes' feisty defense was able to thwart seven shots and five corner kicks from the Eagles. Taylor Layton fired off the first shot for the Lopes while Alexis Roberts, McKenzie Cook and Joanna Lagunas all had one shot a piece. While the Lopes couldn't convert their shots into goals, Blakely Fraasch and the back line kept the Eagles from scoring.

The second half was not much different as both teams continued to battle vigilantly. The Lopes best offensive opportunities came at the 71st minute mark. GCU drilled two back-to-back shot attempts by Cook and Christian Recinos, but the Eagles wouldn't go quietly and answered with a pair of blocked shot attempts to shut down the Lopes offense. GCU's offense remained relentless and at the 84:51 minute Cook blasted a shot towards the goal, but the near perfect shot was acrobatically batted out of the goal box by EWU's Taylor Mallory. While Cook followed the shot attempt with a pair of corner kicks, the Lopes couldn't convert. Four minutes into overtime EWU produced the game-winning goal as a result of a corner kick opportunity.

Lopes Quotes:
Head Coach Derek Leader
"It was a tough loss. The girls really battled and showed some signs that we are moving in the right direction for the type of soccer that we want to play."

Lopes Notes:
The Lopes had 12 shots and four corner kicks.
McKenzie Cook led the team with four shots.
Shannon Costello was the lone Lope to play all 94 minutes of the match.

Up Next:
GCU will continue opening weekend at Idaho, Sunday Aug. 21. Match time is set for 1 p.m. MST. Follow live stats via http://statb.us/b/135706 | Follow @GCU_WSOC for latest updates and news.