SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga University women's soccer head coach Amy Edwards was upbeat following the Bulldogs 5-1 exhibition victory over Eastern Washington University Thursday at Luger Field.
Sophomore Karley Baggerly, the leading scorer for the Zags last year with six goals and 15 points, and senior Tori Lee each had a goal and an assist, but the Bulldogs showed their depth as five different players scored and five different players added an assist.
Katey Pennington got the Bulldogs on the board at 17:01, Cassie Geerdts taking a pass from Kasey Rubosky and finding Pennington on the right side inside the 6-yard box for the easy goal. Baggerly made it 2-0 at 28:35 when she took a thru ball from Tori Lee and hit the open net from 12 yards, the Baggerly sent a cross to Brittany Doan at 37:12 for the one-timer and a 3-0 Gonzaga lead at the half.
Lee upped the lead to 4-0 early in the second half off a thru ball by Mikayla Anderson, and Heather Johnson, tied for the goals lead and second on the team in scoring with 12 points a year ago, got an unassisted marker at 57:56.
Edwards thought she learned a lot about the attack in the lone exhibition tilt of the fall.
"I learned we have a good attacking side of our game right now. There are a couple of things we need to tune defensively, but overall I'm pretty happy with the progress and where we are right now," Edwards said.
The main object for Edwards was to see where the team was, the Bulldogs returning 23 players who trained last spring.
"We wanted to see where we were. We thought we had improved our attacking side of the ball and we could see that. We scored some very nice goals. We have a lot of depth on the attack. We wanted to see where we are on that side," Edwards said.
But despite the fact the Eagles managed just five shots and just one on goal in ruining the shutout at 62:47, Edwards said there were some noticeable defensive lapses which will be addressed in the week ahead of the regular-season opener Aug. 22.
"I was a little surprised at some of the mistakes defensively and as a coach I might take a little bit of credit on that and decide we need to focus on that for the next week. I think as coaches we could see a few breakdowns where we could have been exposed. But our staff has really been working on the attacking side so we'll put a little of time and effort into that and I we'll be fine," Edwards said.
The Bulldogs return a strong back line led by senior defenders Cricket Harber, Pennington and Jordan Travis, along with veteran goalkeeper Christie Tombari who played the first 60:36 prior to giving way to sophomore Sarah Swanson.
"We have a great veteran group in the back. I thought Christie was very composed with her feet. She wasn't really contested a lot but very composed with her feet and that's a big step for her," Edwards said of her junior keeper who started all 19 matches a year ago and played all but 87:35 of the season in goal.
Gonzaga controlled the tempo and the territorial advantage especially in the first half, something Edwards wants to see her team do more of this season.
"We want to be a bit more of a possessive team this year. We believe we have the talent to do it but we still want to be able to add in that pressing side of what Gonzaga soccer has been about the last few years. We're going to have to fine tune that combination and decide when that tempo is on to play quickly and when it's on to slow it down. I'm very, very pleased with the talent level and our ability to possess the ball under pressure," Edwards noted.
Gonzaga held a 16-5 shots advantage and had nine corner kicks to just one by the Eagles.
The match also saw the return of Geerdts, a redshirt senior who has fought through two season-ending knee injuries that have kept her out of action since her freshman campaign of 2010.
Cassie is warrior and you saw that today. If anybody could sit out for three seasons and come back its Cassie Geerdts," Edwards praised.
The Bulldogs will now turn their attention to the season openers Aug. 22 at Cal State Bakersfield and Aug. 24 at Fresno State University.
