Eagles don’t fare badly in two polls

Eastern Washington’s gritty, narrow loss at Washington State on Saturday apparently caught the attention of voters in Football Championship Subdivision polls.

Despite dropping a 24-20 decision, the Eagles fell just one spot in The Sports Network Top 25, from ninth to 10th, and retained the No. 11 ranking in the FCS Coaches poll.

After opening the season on the road against two FBS teams, Eastern (1-1) has a bye Saturday before opening Big Sky Conference play at Weber State on Sept. 22. The Eagles’ home opener is Sept. 29 against Montana.

Hockey

With their lone preseason home game looming, the Spokane Chiefs reduced their roster to 28 players on Monday by reassigning 17-year-old left wing Nakeh Lamothe to Drumheller of the Alberta junior league.

Lamothe, the Chiefs’ fourth-round selection in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft, scored one goal in two preseason games.

Spokane, which entertains the Kelowna Rockets at 7 p.m. Thursday at Eagles Ice-A-Rena, has 16 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders on its roster. The list includes 19 veterans and nine rookies.

The Chiefs will also play a preseason game at Tri-City on Friday.

College soccer

Cassie Black, a sophomore forward at Eastern Washington, was selected the Offensive MVP of the Viking Classic that wound up Sunday in Hillsboro, Ore.

Black, who scored two goals in Eastern’s 3-1 win over Boise State on Sunday, it’s first victory of the season, led three Eagles named to the all-tournament team.

She was joined by sophomore goalkeeper Nathalie Schwery, who had a season-high 10 saves in a 1-0 loss on Friday to Utah State, and junior forward Siara Byers, who scored her first goal of the season in Sunday’s victory over Boise State.