B.G. grad Black leads Eastern Washington into postseason

EWU plays host to the Grizzlies — including Columbia River High School graduate Charlene Burger, a freshman who scored her first collegiate goal and added two assists Friday in a 7-0 win over North Dakota — in the regular season finale Friday. The Eagles can finish no worse than a tie for sixth place, and they hold tiebreakers over all teams they could tie for sixth. An EWU win coupled with a Portland State loss Friday to Sacramento State would give the Eagles the No. 2 seed and a bye in the quarterfinals.

The Big Sky Conference tournament, EWU’s first since 2009, is Nov. 6-9 at South Campus Stadium in Missoula, Mont.

Changes in Cheney

Chad Bodnar took over the EWU program in the spring, bringing in two new assistant coaches, “and cut pretty much half the team,” Black said.

The returnees and new additions have blended well.

“It took a little bit to get used to each other on the field, but we definitely killed it once we did,” Black said. “Before, I wouldn’t say we were OK with losing, but when you lose so much, you just kind of get used to it. When we’ve lost now, we have a different team mentality and we’re really mad we lost and really upset, and we always come back harder for the next game and prove ourselves.”

The Eagles posted back-to-back wins twice during the season and lost consecutive matches only once.

Black became EWU’s career goal-scoring leader last season and keeps adding to that total. She holds school records for career goals (23), career points (53) and career shots (158), topping the points and shots lists during her senior campaign.

The Eagles were 10-37-6 (5-16-4 Big Sky) during Black’s first three seasons, when she was the focus of the offense — and therefore the focus of the opposing defenses.

The big difference in the attack this year is the emergence of freshmen Chloe Williams (six goals, 16 points) and Savannah Hoekstra (5 goals, 13 points). That takes scoring pressure off Black, who has responded by setting a single-season EWU record with five assists to go with her five goals this season. Black, who had a total of two assists in three previous seasons, is among the top seven players in the Big Sky in eight statistical categories, including second in assists a game.

“Last year, I was kind of a point forward and it was get me the ball and hope that I score,” Black said. “This year, Sav and Chloe can both score, so it’s relieved a lot of pressure off me. … It’s made it so there’s less pressure on me, but I’ve been able to score and I have teammates who are making runs, so I can assist them. With us three up front, it’s hard for the defense to handle.”

Focused on the finish

Black skipped the team’s trip to winless North Dakota on Sunday as she fights off a bout with bronchitis that she said that evening she seems to be finally beating. She played in three games while coughing so much that it hurt her ribs, but it was decided she should stay home and let her teammates take care of business.

With a place in the conference tournament already secure, the Eagles are playing for seeding Friday against a Montana team unbeaten in conference play (11-5-2, 7-0-2 Big Sky). That is motivation enough — as is the team’s 1-3 mark in home matches this season.

“We haven’t really shown ourselves at home,” Black said. “Our home games have not been our most impressive. It’s going to be fun — Halloween game, senior night against the Big Sky tournament hosts. It’s going to be a fun game. If we can win that at home for the seniors, that would be awesome.

“It would be a statement before the tournament if we did win — like, ‘We’re here and we didn’t get first, but we beat the first-place team.’ If we go in confident, we can show our stuff. But if we don’t go in confident, there’s no way.”